Eleven persons travelling to a dargah in Karnataka's Chikkaballapura died after a private bus collided with the truck they were in.
At around 12.20 pm on Wednesday, a private bus owned by SKS Travels collided into a Tata Ace mini truck at Bagalahalli near Chintamani. The impact mangled the mini truck resulting in the death of 11 people and injuring three others.
The Chintamani Rural Police say that all eleven people in the Tata Ace died on the spot. The deceased persons were travelling from Chintamani to the dargah in Murugamalla. The bus was travelling from Murugamalla to Bengaluru.
The injured have been rushed to the Chikkaballapura and Kolar district hospitals, where they are undergoing treatment.
"Eyewitness reports state that the driver of the bus was speeding and collided head-on with the Tata Ace near the bend along the road. Several eyewitnesses complained that the private buses plying to and from Murugamalla always end up speeding. The shop owners nearby say that several commuters have nearly escaped death near this bend due to rash driving," Chintamani Rural Police Sub Inspector Jagadish Reddy told TNM.
The driver has absconded from and the police are on the lookout for him.