Over 30 children from the International School were saved in the nick of time, as a huge tree fell on their school bus on the Varthur-Gunjur main road in Bengaluru.
The incident took place on Monday around 3.45 pm when the bus was on its way to Dommasandra to drop off the children after school. As per reports, the driver heard a sound coming from the roadside but didn’t have enough time to react as the tree came crashing down on the bus as well as a truck parked nearby.
As the tree had landed on top of both the bus and the truck, the damages were minimal.
Onlookers at the spot immediately rushed to help pull the children out of the bus. No casualties or major injuries were reported. The driver of the bus sustained a shoulder injury and was taken to a nearby hospital for first aid. None of the children was hurt, though a few sustained some bruises and were in a state of shock.
A call was made to the school to arrange for another bus to send the children home, while several worried parents rushed to the spot and picked up their kids.
The Whitefield traffic police were also alerted at once. They came to the spot and blocked the area. Traffic was stopped for some time as officials began to clear the roads.
Vehicles heading towards Gunjur were diverted until 5 pm after the road was cleared of all debris.
Taking to Twitter, Citizens’ Collective Whitefield Rising said that the tree is suspected to have fallen because of the weakened roots following digging by the BWSSB for laying a pipeline.
#MahadevapuraDemands
— Whitefield Rising (@WFRising) October 14, 2019
Exhibit C: but for the grace of God, and the guardian angels, no lives were lost today.
The tree is suspected to have falled down due to the digging by BWSSB pipeline digging weakened the roots.
This is in Varthur - Gunjur Road. Today. pic.twitter.com/1KqRgjeRES
The BBMP Corporator from Varthur Pushpa Manjunath told Deccan Herald that in addition to the digging work done by the BWSSB, the rains, too, played a large role in the incident.
“The recent rains added to the problem. We frequently check the old and dry trees and prune them. This tree, however, looked fine. I wish the poor condition of the tree was brought to our notice earlier,” she said.