Kerala bids adieu to bus mishap victims

Kerala on Friday bid a tearful adieu to the victims of the ghastly road mishap

involving state-run KSRTC bus and a container lorry in neighbouring Tamil Nadu.

The bodies of all the 19 passengers killed in the mishap on Thursday had been brought to the state after post-mortem

and 15 of them laid to rest, state Transport Minister A K Saseendran said.

Nineteen passengers were killed and 27 injured when a tile-laden container lorry crossed into a wrong lane and

rammed into the oncoming Ernakulam-bound Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) bus on the Salem-Kochi highway

at Avinashi, 40 km from Coimbatore, around 4 am. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami had on Thursday

told the state assembly that 20 people were killed and 28 injured in the accident.

According to the transport officials here, two passengers escaped unhurt.

Saseendran said the government arranged for ambulances to bring the bodies of the victims to their hometowns.

"A total of 19 persons lost their lives in the accident. The last rites of many (15) have been completed," he told PTI.

Crime Branch Police ADGP Tomin Thachankary, a former Managing Director of KSRTC, visited the family of Gireesh, the

driver of the ill-fated bus. "It's a very sad day. I had honoured both Gireesh and

Baiju (conductor) for their selfless services in the past. They were an asset to KSRTC. This is a great loss to their

family and to KSRTC," Thachankary told reporters. Girish and Baiju were honoured by the KSRTC management

for assisting a woman passenger who took ill during a trip to Bengaluru from Ernakulam in June, 2018.

The then KSRTC Managing Director Thachankary had issued a letter to both commending them for taking care of the ailing

passenger. Meanwhile, the Motor Vehicles Department of Kerala said

a report based on its inquiry into the accident will be submitted on Saturday to the state government by the Palakkad

Enforcement Regional Transport Officer Shivakumar. The officer said the accident occurred as the driver of

the lorry dozzed off. "The vehicle ran over the road divider resulting in tyre

burst and we have found markings on the divider... It seems like the tyre burst after it ran over the divider. The

investigation is done by Tamil Nadu government," Shivkumar told reporters.