Kochi: Nine people including five school students were killed when a tourist bus collided with a KSRTC bus and rolled over at Wadakkancherry on the national highway in Palakkad on Wednesday night.
The tourist carrying 42 students and five teachers of Baselios Vidyanikethan School in Mulanthuruthy in Ernakulam in Kerala was on a sight-seeing trip to Ooty when the mishap occurred, media reports quoting witnesses said.
Sixty persons were injured, four of them seriously, in the accident which has added to the list of accidents happening in the state due to poor traffic discipline and lack of monitoring by the traffic and motor vehicles department.
The incident happened when the reckless driver of the bus gave scant regard to the students and others while driving the vehiclea at breakneck speed of 97.2 kms and colliding with the KSRTC bus from behind while trying to overtake a car.
The bus rolled over after the collision. The witnesses said that the bus was going at a dangerous speed posing threat to the other motorists on the road for a long time before the accident.
Despite countless facilities like GPS and Artificial Intelligence backed gadgets, the state has once again proved its inefficiency in disciplining motorists, mainly those driving heavy vehicles. According to reports the Kottayam registered bus was black listed for violating five norms.
