25 killed, 40 injured when bus falls into ditch

Hassan, Karnataka, May 29 (UNI) At least 25 people, including 19 women and five children were killed and 40 others injured, five of them seriously, when a lorry carrying more than 100 people of a marriage party plunged into a 50-foot deep ditch near Ramanathapura Agrahara Village in the district today.

The tragedy occurred when the lorry driver tried to reverse the vehicle on the narrow tank-bund road, after seeing a high tension line lying low across the road.

District Superintendent of Police Sharath Chandra informed UNI over telephone that the death toll in the accident was over 25, which included 19 women and five children.

Earlier Deputy Commissioner Anjum Parvez had said that as many as 34 people were killed in the tragedy.

The accident occurred when the driver of the ill-fated lorry tried to avoid coming into contact with a high tension electric wire. The driver tried to reverse the vehicle but it skidded and rolled over three times and fell into the ditch.

Five among the injured were in serious condition. They were admitted to Hassan, Arakalgud and Konanur General Hospitals in the district.

The victims belonged to Basavanahalli Koppal Village and they were proceeding to Agrahara Village in Arakalagud Taluk under Konanur police limits.

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