Amid an unfortunate incident, at least 13 people died after a tempo ran into a truck moving towards the vehicle from the opposite direction in Karnataka.
The accident took place on Hubbali-Dharwad bypass road, which is around 430 km away from Karnataka’s capital city, Bengaluru.
The 12 people died on the spot, including the driver while 4 others are said to be critical.
Police reports say that another 7 suffered injuries in the incident that happened about 8 kilometers far from the main Dharwad city in the wee hours of Friday.
An officer from the Rural Police of Dharwad said, “The tempo had left Davengere at around 3 am. When it reached near Ittigatti cross, located about 8 km from Dharwad city, at around 7 am, the tempo collided with a truck coming from the opposite direction.”
Most of the victims were women traveling a distance of 300 km to reach Goa for attending a family function from their place of residence, Davangere. The tempo bore the number (KA 64-1316) carrying people living in Vidyanagar, MCC (A), and MCC (B) blocks of Davanagere. They were planning to have breakfast in Dharwad and proceed to Goa after that.
SP Krishnakant said that the occupants were the alumni of Saint Paul’s Convent School in Davangere who were on their 3-day trip to Goa.
The injured are currently getting treated in Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences where their condition is told to be critical. The deceased are identified as- Rajeswari Sivakumar, Shakuntala, Ranjini Srinivas, Nirmala, Manjula, Praveena, Poornima, Paramjyoti, Preethi Ravikumar, Manasi, Veda, Asha Jagadeesh, and Usha. The identity of some other bodies is yet to be ascertained.
12 women passengers identified by the police and Five injured have been shifted to a local hospital. According to police, All were hailed from Davangere district and they were heading to attend a function in #Goa. @IndianExpress pic.twitter.com/hCqgRhjFue
— Darshan Devaiah B P (@DarshanDevaiahB) January 15, 2021
The operation to remove the dead bodies was a tough task as the truck was heavily dismantled and completely crushed. The complete activity lasted till 1.30 pm as police made use of a crane to remove the vehicle parts and retrieve the bodies.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his dismay with the incident and extended his condolences to the families who suffered their loved ones’ loss. He tweeted saying, “Saddened by the loss of lives due to a road accident in Karnataka’s Dharwad district. In this sad hour, my thoughts are with the bereaved families. I pray for a quick recovery of those injured.”
The police have registered a case in the matter and further investigation is underway, officials said.
