Bengaluru Rains: Infosys Techie Dies After Car Submerges In KR Circle Underpass

A woman died after getting trapped in a car under neck-deep water at the KR Circle underpass in Bengaluru following heavy rains that lashed the city on Sunday. There were six members travelling in the car and five of them have been rescued.

Fire and emergency services personnel saved five others of the family and the driver, with the help of people who had rushed to save those trapped in the flooded underpass.

The victim has been identified as Bhanu Rekha. She worked at Infosys and the family hailed from Krishna district in Andhra. They were on a vacation to Bengaluru and visited the Palace, Lalbagh, Cubbon Park and Vidhan Soudha earlier in the day.

"As it was raining heavily, not many realised what was happening there. Somehow we managed to get sarees and wires to pull them out. We managed to save five out of six," an eyewitness told a Kannada news channel.

The victim and other family members were taken to St Martha's Hospital where doctors declared the 22-year-old woman brought dead.

Later, newly sworn-in Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah visited the hospital and met the victim's family. He also announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the next of kin of the deceased and free treatment for those admitted to the hospital.

"The family from Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh had hired a car and come to see Bengaluru. Bhanurekha works in Infosys. Due to the downpour, the barricade at the underpass fell down and the driver took the risk of crossing the underpass, which he should not have," PTI quoted Siddaramaiah as saying.

There are reports that the hospital authorities did not immediately respond when the family was rushed to the hospital with some people claiming that the precious life of the woman could have been saved if treated immediately.

However, the Karnataka CM, responding to the reports, said that he will get the incident investigated.

It is reported that the car driver tried to zoom through the water, but the vehicle got stuck and got submerged in the middle of the underpass. The people trapped in the vehicle came out frantically trying to save themselves.

Those entrapped tried to climb up but failed. While two of them were dragged out by swimmers of the emergency services personnel, others were brought out using a ladder.

Loud mourning ensued at the hospital when the survivors saw the lifeless body of their family member. An autorickshaw was also trapped at KR Circle and a woman passenger saved her life by climbing on top of the vehicle.

The rescuers saved her too. Meanwhile, several vehicles got trapped at another waterlogged underpass near Majestic, also in the centre of the city. People struggled hard to come out of their vehicles.