Kerala - Kochi   

Frayed tempers at accident site

Kochi: Eyewitness accounts said there were heart-rending scenes at the site of the accident at Pothanikkad on Thursday. Bodies covered in blood were strewn all around, said Pradeep Kumar, a computer student who rushed to site on seeing the bus plough through the crowd that had assembled for the rally.

Pradeep said he was watching the rally from about a distance of 200 metres when he heard loud wails from the back of the rally. “We heard people shouting for vehicles and we hurried to the scene in an autorickshaw.”

What he witnessed there were gory scenes. “I couldn’t take a second look and stepped back, as I feared I would faint,” he said.

A little away, he found some others badly wounded. He helped the injured persons into an auto. Women who had gathered to watch the rally were crying out loud, Pradeep said.

What followed were violent scenes. “The situation was explosive. People were shouting and giving vent to their ire by smashing the lorry. Attempts were even made to burn the lorry,” he said. However, a timely warning by someone that there was a petrol pump close by dissuaded the protesters from torching the vehicle, said Jomon, a Master of Social Work student residing at Pothanikkad, who rushed to the scene minutes after the incident.

Pradeep said some of the spectators who saw the lorry speeding shouted at the activists to move out of the way as they felt that its brakes had failed.

He said the warning went unheard as it was drowned in the sound of drums and slogan shouting. Irate people criticised the police team for arriving at the scene late. The police tried to move out the lorry but had to drop it following threats that it would be burnt if any such attempts were made, Pradeep said.

Jomon, who later went to Mar Baselios Medical Mission Hospital to see the body of his neighbour Pathrose, one of the victims, said he witnessed heart-rending scenes.

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