In a tragic incident, a 22-year-old woman who was an employee of Infosys, Bhanu Rekha, died after the car she was travelling in with her family submerged due to waterlogging at the KR Circle underpass on May 21, Sunday afternoon. According to Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, though barricades had been placed to block traffic from entering the underpass, they had fallen down due to the heavy rains and wind in the city, and the driver entered the underpass and the tragedy unfolded.
One of the eyewitnesses, Prabhakar Reddy, who was involved in rescuing the family, said that other commuters broke open the doors of the car and pulled the family out. He further added that while the other five family members along with the driver were rescued, Bhanu Rekha died after reaching the hospital.
“I went to the spot to check and found that people were trapped inside. I immediately approached the Fire Department and also joined them in the rescue operations. I tied a rope around myself and jumped into the water. I tried helping as much as possible,” Reddy said.
KR Circle is situated in the heart of Bengaluru city and the underpass there normally gets flooded every time there is heavy rain. The family, which had come on a tour from Andhra Pradesh to Bengaluru, had rented the car for sightseeing. While trying to cross the underpass, the vehicle got submerged in neck-deep water. The Fire and Rescue services that reached the spot used ladders to rescue the family. TV channels recorded the visuals of the rescue operation live. One elderly woman and a young woman who were sobbing uncontrollably climbed up the ladder themselves and were rescued, and Bhanu Rekha was brought out with a lifebuoy ring around her.
One of the rescuers from the Fire Department told the media that by the time they reached the car with life jackets, ropes, and lifebuoy rings, five people including the driver were sitting atop the car. They were crying that one person was stuck inside the car. “They did not speak Kannada. They were scared and crying. We pulled out the young woman from the car, but we could not save her life.”
The Fire and Rescue services personnel along with a few volunteers rescued the family and sent them to St Martha’s Hospital nearby. The volunteers have accused the hospital staff of not attending to Bhanu Rekha on time. “I arranged for an auto-rickshaw and sent her to the hospital. When I reached the hospital after 20 minutes, the patient was lying unattended. The hospital staff did not provide her first aid or treatment,” Reddy told media reporters.
On being asked about Bhanu Rekha’s condition when she was rescued, he said she vomited after she was rescued and was immediately rushed to the hospital. He further blamed the hospital for not attending to the victim.
“The hospital staff members say that she died before reaching here, but she was kept waiting outside the hospital for over 20 minutes,” Reddy added.
The Chief Minister who visited St Martha’s Hospital after being informed about the incident, however, told the media that according to doctors, Bhanu Rekha had died by the time she was brought to the hospital as she had ingested a lot of water.
Speaking to reporters outside the hospital, he said, “The family had hired the vehicle for sightseeing. There were barricades erected near the underpass, but due to strong winds and rain, they had fallen. Normally people don’t enter underpasses during rain. The driver should not have gone into the underpass. When the car went in, the glass broke and water gushed inside. The doors got jammed, and Bhanu Rekha ingested too much water. The doctors said that she was dead by the time she was brought to the hospital.”
The Chief Minister further said that all underpasses should be closed during times of rain. “That underpass often gets flooded. We should have closed the traffic at such a time but this happened suddenly. There is a slope on both sides and waterlogging in the middle,” he said.