Karnataka - Bijapur   

10 killed, 15 hurt as stone-laden lorry overturns near Bijapur

Ill-fated vehicle: The truck that was involved in an accident near Bijapur on Saturday night.

BIJAPUR: As many as 10 people, including two children, were killed and 15 were injured in an accident on Bijapur-Athani Road, 10 km from here, on Saturday night.

The accident occurred when a Maharashtra-bound lorry transporting “Shahbad” stones overturned, throwing the people resting on them down. Subsequently, the stone slabs fell on the people, killing 10 of them on the spot.

The injured have been admitted to the district hospital here.

According to the police, the lorry driver lost control when the vehicle hit a small heap of crushed stones dumped on the road for asphalting. The lorry hit the sidewall of a nearby cross-drainage structure before overturning.The police gave the names of the dead as Amasidda Madaninga Madar (55); Shivaninga Yamanappa Madar (40), his wife Seethavva (35) and their son Ramesh (8); Mutthappa Dharmanna Madar (25) and his wife Satyavva (22); and Sharanappa Lakkappa Madar (28), all residents of Madbhavi village in Bijapur taluk; Appanna Gurusiddappa Kolari (45) from Boragi village in Sindagi taluk; and Nagappa Bhimappa Madar (45) and Renukabayi Madar (12) from Puradalu village in Sindagi taluk.

The lorry was transporting the stone slabs to Karad in Maharashtra from Shahbad town in Gulbarga district. Sixteen people boarded the lorry at Sindagi and eight people boarded it at Madbhavi Cross on Sindagi-Bijapur Road.

All of them had been engaged as farmhands in Karad region, and had come to their native places.

“We always travel by lorries. While the bus fare for Karad is Rs. 160 per head, it is Rs. 60 in lorries. But this time it proved costly for us,” said Shrishail Kore of Teggihalli village, who is being treated at the district hospital. His wife, Rukma, suffered minor injuries.

“We were asleep, and even before we realised what had happened we were trapped under a heap of stones. Soon, I fell unconscious. I was in the hospital when I regained consciousness. It is a rebirth for me,” said Rehanabi (35), who suffered head injuries. The lorry driver, Sharanappa Mallappa Hadapad, suffered bruises. The Bijapur Rural Police have taken him to custody.

A car also met with an accident at the same spot later. However, the travellers suffered minor injuries.

Superintendent of Police Arun Chakravarthi visited the spot.

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