Kerala: School trip bus rams into passenger bus, 9 dead
Nine people were killed, including five students and a teacher, when a private bus taking students on a leisure trip rammed into a state transport bus in Palakkad district, Kerala on Wednesday night at around 11:30 pm. The bus went off-road and fell into a swamp injuring nearly 50 people in the incident, Kerala Road Transport Minister Antony Raju said on Thursday.
The accident occurred at Mangalam near Vadakkencherry town. Around 42 higher secondary students along with five teachers of Baselios Vidyanikethan Senior Secondary School in Ernakulam were out for a trip. As per the preliminary report, the bus driver was speeding, and in an attempt to overtake a car, he hit the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) bus from the rear.
Woke up to the horrific news of an accident in Palakkad highway. A school bus crashed into a KSRTC bus pic.twitter.com/hqLYPcgFMv
— Dhanya Rajendran (@dhanyarajendran) October 6, 2022
The students were headed to Ooty in Tamil Nadu while the KSRTC bus was servicing between Kottarakkara in Kerala to Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. Kerala Local Self Government Minister MB Rajesh visited the survivors at the hospital in Palakkad and said that four people were critical while the rest were stable. The bus was pulled out of the swamp using a crane.
State Revenue Minister K Rajan termed the incident shocking and said an investigation will be carried out to pinpoint the reason for the accident. He said that strict measures needed to be taken to prevent such accidents in the future. He said a cabinet meeting will be called to discuss compensation to the kin of the deceased apart from counseling students.
