7 killed as bus collides with truck

CHITRADURGA: It was black Friday for seven people travelling in a private bus as it collided with a truck at Yaraballi village of Hiriyur taluk in the wee hours. Out of the seven passengers, five died on the spot and two succumbed to injuries at a hospital in Chitradurga.Apart from this 45 other passengers travelling got injured and are being treated at government hospitals in Chitradurga, Davangere, Challakere, Hiriyur and Tumkur.The deceased have been identified as Virupakshappa (35) of Harthikote village, Srinivasa (40), Sridhara (28) of Jadekunte village, Mamtha alias Malamma (14) and Kariyappa (40) of Anesidri village of Hiriyur taluk, Manjunatha (33) of Siddapura village Tiptur taluk and Shruthi (22) of Belagere village.According to police, rash and negligent driving of the bus driver led to the accident. In a hurry to overtake a vehicle he rammed his vehicle into the truck.The bus on its way to Bangalore from Nayakanahatti was on the wrong side when the accident took place.Speaking to Express police inspector Roshan Zameer of Hiriyur rural station said, “The accident took place at around 6 30 am.”“It is the bus drivers negligence due to which the accident occurred, where as the truck on its way to Bellary was on right track.” The accident blocked traffic on the state highway.Hiriyur, Aymangala, Challakere police with the help of local villagers shifted the injured to a hospital and cleared the traffic. The bodies were removed from the mangled remains using gas cutters. IGP Eastern Range Sanjay Sahay, SP M N Nagaraj, DySP Hanumantharayappa visited the spot and expedited the relief works.A case has been registered at the Aymangala Police station.