Five persons, including a 12-year-old girl, were crushed to death, while four were injured when a speeding charcoal dust-laden truck ran over them after ramming into a roadside tree at Kaalimatha Cross in Doddabelavangala, on the outskirts of the city on Wednesday night. The victims were walking back home after attending the wedding of their relative at Lakshmi Narasimhamurthy kalyana mantapa.
The deceased have been identified as Shanthamma (40), Savitha (36), Shashikala (32), Supratha (19), and Bhavana (12), residents of Chikkabelavangala village. The police have also arrested the truck driver, identified as Sathish Kumar of Dharmapuri, and seized the truck.
The eight-wheeler truck moving towards Doddaballapura from Dobbaspet lost control after the axel snapped. Since it was a steep slope, the truck first rammed into a roadside tree. While some people managed to run to safety, nine persons came under the truck’s wheels, a senior police officer said.
Tension gripped the area when villagers rushed to the accident spot and staged a snap protest, blocking traffic on National Highway 207. The villagers demanded a service road for the pedestrians and two-wheeler riders, who are at the risk due to heavy movement of vehicles on the national highway. The particular stretch of road is under repair as road widening work had started a few days ago, which had affected smooth movement of traffic.
The Doddabelavangala police rushed to the spot and shifted the injured to Nelamangala hospital. The bodies of the deceased have been sent to Doddaballapura for post-mortem.
Senior police officials assured the agitatig villagers that they would ensure speedy repair work. Some villagers wanted to postpone the remaining wedding rituals because of the incident, but the police convinced them to go ahead and the marriage procedure was conducted.
