Bhubaneswar: Nine persons, including five students, were killed and 38 injured after a private tourist bus rammed into a state-run KSRTC bus and then fell into a swamp at Vadakkenchery in Palakkad district, Kerala Road Transport Minister Antony Raju informed on Thursday.
The crash occurred around 11.30 pm on Wednesday on National Highway 544 when the tourist bus was attempting to overtake a car. “Both the buses went off the road as a result. Nine persons, including five students and a teacher, were killed in the accident,” the minister told the media.
The tourist bus was carrying 42 students and 5 teachers of Baselios Vidyanikethan Senior Senior Secondary School in Ernakulam and was en route to Ooty while the KSRTC superfast bus was on its way from Kottarakkara to Coimbatore and had 81 passengers, of whom three died in the accident.
Raju attributed the accident to the possible high speed of the private bus and the negligence of its driver.
