Two persons, including a 5-year-old girl, were killed and five others were injured after an MTC bus went out of control while getting into the bus bay at the Central railway station on Thursday evening.
The victims were identified as Kumaresan (33) of Ayanavaram and Ayesha (5). The condition of one of the injured, Jayamohan (53), was said to be critical. The other injured admitted to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital were Gautam (3), Gokulakannan (19), Revathy (23) and Chelappan (70).
U. Yusuf, one of the eyewitnesses, said he saw the bus speeding towards the railway station just seconds before it rammed the barricade near the bus stop.
“After I found a child with head injuries, I joined a small group of people who were rescuing those trapped beneath the bus,” he said.
“The bus came to a halt only after it hit a taxi on the other side of the barricade. A major accident would have occurred had the bus turned to the right side where a large number of people were waiting at the bus stop,” said B.Netaji, a taxi driver.
He cited the poor condition of the MTC bus, on route no.32 – Vivekanandar Illam to Vallalar Nagar, as one of the reasons for the accident.
“I was able to take only three persons to the hospital. One of the persons suffered serious injuries in the stomach after he was trapped under the bus. Others were bleeding profusely,” said Mohammed Hanifa, another eyewitness.
Durga, the mother of Ayesha, said the child had come to see her father, who was a daily wage labourer at the railway station. The child was a student of a Chennai School in Periamet.
“I have been advising her not to come to the railway station during summer holidays. She refused to oblige. The accident occurred while she was playing on the pavement, on which the bus climbed,” said Siddique Ramesh, Ayesha's father.
The girl succumbed to her injuries at the hospital.
Published - June 03, 2011 01:40 am IST
