Bus driver blamed for mishap

ERODE: The tanker lorry driver Vadivel blamed the omnibus driver for the mishap stating the bus had hit the lorry from behind.According to him, the lorry, which was carrying aviation fuel from Tondiarpet, Chennai, was proceeding at normal speed. He was accompanied by cleaner Venkatesh. The bus driver tried to overtake the lorry from left side and hit the lorry from back.In the mishap, a section of 4 enclosures within the tanker, broke and fuel spilled on to the bus which led to the fire. Seeing the bus catch fire, Vadivel got horrified and left the spot with the lorry. He stopped the lorry nearly one km away from the spot. If the lorry was left at the spot, the entire fuel would have caught fire, Vadivel said. Later, he alerted the police and fire service.On getting information, Collector V K Shanmugam and RDO Sugumar, visited the site. They also visited Erode GH.Aswani, a software engineer, who travelled in the bus, said she was woken up by the deafening sound of the impact. She and her father were on the way to Coimbatore to attend a marriage. She thought that a bomb had exploded. When she realised what happened, she alerted her father. Rangaraj (52), a poultry unit owner from Chennai, said that he escaped as he was occupying the last row of the bus. He went to Bangalore and was proceeding to his Coimbatore office. He said he was awake at the time of mishap.