In a horrific accident, three people were killed and four others were injured in Vijayawada after a state transport bus mowed them down on Friday.
An Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) bus ran amok after its brakes allegedly failed. It ran over motorists on a busy road near the Budameru bridge. The whole incident was captured on CCTV. The bus came to a halt after hitting a truck.
Thirty-two-year-old Shaik Kurshid Begum and her daughter Shaik Arsha, who was ten, were among the deceased. Shaik Gafar, Kurshid Begum's cousin brother, was taking the mother and daughter to a funeral. He sustained critical injuries along with two other bikers. Veera Chandra Gunti also died on the spot.
CCTV images of the horrific incident showed the bus hitting motorcycles from behind and running over them.
Irate relatives of the victims set fire to the bus. However, the police, with the help of some people, doused the flames.
"As per preliminary probe, the brakes of the bus apparently failed, leading to the incident," said Naresh Kumar, Sub-Inspector of Ajit Singh Nagar.
"We have taken the bus driver into custody and seized the bus. The Brake Inspector needs to conduct an inspection. We will take further action depending on that," he added.
A case under IPC Sections 304(A), 337 and 338 was registered.
The fitness of the buses is definitely under question, because a bus’s brakes failing in the middle of busy road raises serious questions about the quality of the bus, and whether or not they are being regularly audited.
“When there is any fitness problem with a private vehicle, they will not let the vehicle move around. Why have they failed to do same with the government vehicles,” asked Nagaraju, an auto driver.
Nuka Raju N, a resident of Ramakrishnapuram, said that he was very disturbed by the incident.
“Negligence is very visible. This would not have been the condition if they had kept a constant vigil on the fitness of the vehicles,” he said.
TNM is not adding the video as it is too disturbing.
(With IANS inputs)