The accident scene at a T-junction near Kuluvanahalli, Nelamangala taluk, on Sunday.
PHOTO CREDIT: NELAMANGALA TRAFFIC POLICE
Bengaluru: A serial crash between a canter truck and a tempo on Tumakuru Road (National Highway 48) left three people dead and five others injured on Sunday evening, police officials said.
The crash occurred around 4.50 pm, when a speeding Maharashtra-registered Eicher canter truck, moving towards Bengaluru, collided with a tempo truck at a T-junction near Kuluvanahalli, Nelamangala taluk, on the city's northwestern outskirts. The tempo was ferrying construction workers, while the truck was loaded with steel.
The Nelamangala traffic police said that the tempo, which had a small cement mixing machine inside it, went hurtling to the median, where a pedestrian named Shivanna Betta Somappa (50) was waiting to cross the road. A resident of Talenahalli, Dobbspet, Somappa died on the spot.
Two masons — Husainappa Asif (32) and Narasappa Beerappa (35) — were thrown out of the tempo and came under the wheels of the canter truck.
Bangarappa (35), Sabanna (46) and Kattappa (22) — the other three people inside the tempo — sustained injuries and were taken to Care Asia Hospital, Nelamangala. They were all from Gurmitkal in Yadgir, and were living in a shed near Shivagange.
Additionally, two people inside the canter truck, one of whom was the driver, were also injured and were taken to Manasvi Hospital, Nelamangala.
The Nelamangala traffic police noted that the tempo driver fled from the spot.
What the fault analysis shows
CK Baba, Superintendent of Police, Bengaluru Rural, said the police had conducted a fault analysis at the spot, deducing that it was the truck driver's fault for speeding and the tempo driver's fault for failing to observe oncoming traffic while taking a turn onto the highway.
He noted that corrective measures for free left turns at the T-junction will be taken, including installing advanced warning signs, rumble strips, pedestrian crossings and improved road markings.
The serial crash paralysed traffic on NH48 through the evening, as traffic police worked to clear the debris and coordinate efforts to safely transport those injured to nearby hospitals.