Bengaluru: Exactly a week after a BMTC bus ran over a 17-year-old student of a Mount Carmel College at Majestic, another BMTC bus ran amok on Kumaraswamy Layout Road on Monday, hitting several vehicles and injuring nine people, including two children, who were travelling in an autorickshaw. Brake failure is said to be reason for the mishap. Three auto rickshaws, two cars and a bike were damaged in the incident that took place near Dayananda Sagar college in Kumaraswamy Layout
Shivakumar, 40, an auto driver, his wife, Sudha, 32, their son Siddaiah, 3, Shivakumar’s niece Rakshitha, 10, and Anand, 25, an auto driver are the injured. Four are said to be out of danger while the girl has sustained grave injuries and is battling for her life in Nimhans hospital.

According to sources, the BMTC bus (route no. 15E) had come from Majestic and its last stop, Kumaraswamy Layout bus station, was just more than a kilometer when the mishap occurred around 11 am. After passing Dayananda Sagar college, the bus went on Vyasaraya Ballal Road and it was supposed to take a left turn towards the bus station. However, the bus driver could not negotiate the turn and went straight ramming into every other vehicle that came in his way.

“After the driver lost control, the bus moved around 200 meters before coming to halt after hitting an auto. Before this, the bus had hit two autos, a Tata Indica car and a Mahindra XUV that were parked by roadside, and a bike. In the first auto that was hit by the bus, Anand, the driver, and his passengers, Manjula and Ranjitha were injured. The driver of another auto, Rajesh, and his passenger Sridhar were also injured. Out of the nine injured, five have been hospitalised and four others sustained minor injuries,” the police said.

Soon after the mishap, the bus driver, Mahesh and the conductor, abandoned the vehicle and fled the scene, but Mahesh was arrested later on Monday evening.