Thirteen die as hurtling bus rams tree in Malappuram

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Perinthalmanna, Kerala: It was another black Friday for Kerala as 13 people, including seven college students and four women, died and 29 others were injured when a private bus descending a gradient road lost control, rammed a tree and turned turtle at Thelakkad, 17 km from here, around 1.30 p.m. The condition of six of the injured  was critical.
Last Friday, eight members of a family were killed  when a bus rammed an autorickshaw at Tanur, some 45 km from Thelekkad.
The latest accident occurred after the bus  negotiated a curve and tried  to overtake another vehicle. It  lost control as one of its tyres burst and it first hit a tree on the right side of the road and plunged into the low-lying area upside down, passengers who escaped with minor injuries said.
The  bus was plying from Perinthalmanna to Vettathur Melkulangara. The mangled bus and belongings of passengers at the accident site spoke of the disaster on the roads, which are a recurrent but tragic theme as Kerala keeps debating the width of the roads and the vociferous side wins 30-metre stretch for a national highway.
There were nearly 50 passengers  in the bus which had the permit for only 32. Most of the dead and injured had to be extricated from the bus.
The dead were Salman Imthias, bus driver,   Mariyam, 50, Mangadakkuzhiyil house, Attakulangara, Cheriyakkan, 55, Kavannayil house, Attakkulangara, Safeela, 19, Adarikkal house, Neethu, 18, daughter of Narayanan, Pacheri House, native of Melkulangara, Sabira, 18, daughter of Hamsa, native of Madathodi, Fathima daughter of Hamsa, Panniyath house, Thesni, daughter of Sadikkutti, Kappungal house, Mubasheera  daughter of Mujeeb, Kozhippath house, Sainaba, daughter of Musthafa, Cherukki, wife of Unniyakkan,  Sainaba, daughter of Poozhisan and Shamna, daughter of Ummer Madathodi.
Most of the victims were admitted to Al Shifa and Moulana Hospitals at Perinthalmanna.
The bodies were released to relatives after post-mortem at Manjeri medical college and Perinthalmanna taluk hospital.
It took more than half an hour to start rescue operations as the area was isolated. Being Friday, most of the men in the predominantly Muslim region were at the  mosques for noon prayers. The narrow road coupled with trees on both sides added to the intensity of the tragedy.
Bus was jam-packed, in poor condition
Jose Kurian | DC
Perinthalmanna: The narrow road, jam-packed vehicle and the poor condition of tyres caused the accident, says the passengers who escaped with minor injuries. A majority of the passengers were students from two parallel colleges, Winner and Prathibha, of Perinthalmanna.
Sreekumar Palakkunnuparambil, a student of Winner Parallel College said the bus was running at a medium speed and suddenly the sound of a blast was heard and the vehicle lost control. “I don’t know what happened, but  I found myself out in the slush when I opened my eyes”, he said.
“I found many of my fellow passengers struggling for life and there was blood everywhere. The driver and three girls who were in front of the vehicle died on the spot”, he said.
“I found an old man searching for a girl and finally her body was found hanging from a creeper of the tree the bus had hit”, said Sreekumar, still shivering from the shock. He had been standing in the bus.   
Abubacker Alanalloor said the road was good, but too narrow, which was the main reason for the accident. “There is no mechanism to monitor the condition of the vehicle and on most days, buses ply jam packed”, he said.
“It took more than an hour for the fire-force team from Manjeri and the Melattoor police to on arrive the spot”, said Sulaiman Kozhippadi who participated in the rescue operations. “We were coming in an auto and arrived at the spot soon after the incident”, he said.
Meanwhile, the accident spot was abuzz with hundreds of vehicles including cars and bikes from nearby areas. The police personnel who were insufficient in number, found it difficult to control the huge crowd. People were shooting the scene on their mobile phones.
Incidentally, a sufficient number of police came just before Minister Manjalamkuzhi Ali arrived on the spot.
Accident prone private buses
Subin Mananthavady | DC
Kozhikode: Private buses top the accident graph as compared with the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation in the Malabar Region, according to the data available with the National Transportation Planning and Research Centre.
In the first five months of 2013, private buses in the region caused 487 accidents compared with 91 by the KSRTC. In  Malappuram district, private buses accounted for 130 accidents as against 28 by the KSRTC. The trend is similar in Kozhikode, Kannur, Wayanad and Kasargode districts. In Jan-Dec 2012, private buses accounted for 1,295 accidents in the five Malabar districts as against 246 by the state-owned transport utility.

High speed and competition between private bus operators have often been seen as the main reasons for the high number of accidents involving these buses.  
T. Gopinath, state general secretary, All Kerala Bus Operators Organization said the number of private buses plying in the Malabar region was much higher when compared to the KSRTC. So, the accident data was a reflection of that fact, he said. The KSRTC was operating around 750 buses in the Malabar region compared with 6,750 private buses, he said.
In Jan-May 2013, a total of 3,751 accidents were reported from the five districts in which 482 people were killed and 2,452 suffered grave injuries. In 2012, the accidents totalled 8,748 in the Malabar region in which 1,026 people  were killed and 5,543 suffered serious injuries.
MVD blames tyres, not roads
Thiruvananthapuram: It was the bad condition of the tyre and not the road which caused the tragic accident which claimed 13 lives in Malappuram district. MVD officials say the accident took place on the rubberized road which was 30 metres wide. They point out that one of the front tyres was completely worn out.
The officials claim that they conduct routine inspections to check worn out tyres and those violating the norms are issued stop memos. The vehicle is allowed to ply only after the tyres are changed and clearance taken from the department.
But in the case of the ill fated vehicle, there seems to have been no such checks at least in recent times which was abundantly clear from the condition of the tyres.
MVD officials claim that the vehicle had a speed governor which restricted the speed limit to a maximum of 60 km per hour. 
RTOs to check private bus timings
Thiruvananthapuram: In the wake of the accident at Perinthalmanna, Transport Commissioner Rishi Raj Singh has instructed all RTOs to restructure the time schedule of private buses before October 31 to ensure that they do not  speed.
As per the present time schedule, private buses have to pass one kilometre in two minutes in rural areas and 2.5 minutes in city limits. This time schedule was forcing drivers to violate speed restrictions thus resulting in accidents.
Though many people had pointed out that the present time schedule was unrealistic, the Motor Vehicles Department had failed to revise it.
Transport Commissioner Rishi Raj Singh said he had also instructed all district level officials to initiate steps to conduct awareness camps for the benefit of private bus drivers.
Despite mvd claims, bus was not properly maintained
Thiruvananthapuram: Despite the claims of the Motor Vehicles Department regarding the fitness of the vehicle, the tear that occurred in one of the tyres clearly indicates that the mini bus was not subjected to proper examination, nor was it checked in the recent past.
According to the RTO, the vehicle was inspected and the Certificate of Fitness (CF) was given on March  26, 2013, and the clearance was valid up to March 25, 2014.
The Motor Vehicles Department’s website mentions that the stage carrier which comes under the LMV category, was delivered on January 23, 2004 and registered on March 15, 2004.
The vehicle with a seating capacity of 23, was owned by four people before it came to the present owner. At least two of the tyres of the vehicle were completely worn out and that possibly led to the mishap.
Sources say it’s the same story for many of the mini buses in the district with officials often turning a blind eye to problems like worn out tyres. There are at least 30 to 35 registered LMV stage carriers with  the permit to ply in Malappuram district.