24 hurt as overloaded maxicab turns turtle
Five year-old girl’s hand almost severed in the incident
In all 24 passengers suffered injuries, three among them serious, after a maxicab they were travelling in turned turtle near Kalastavadi on Mysore-Bangalore road on Sunday morning.
The driver of the cab that shuttles between Mysore and Pandavapura lost control over the steering wheel and rammed the vehicle into the median, that caused the fall, around 11 am according to an eyewitness.
The left hand of Amoolya, aged five years, daughter of Krishna from Edathele was almost severed owing to the impact. She was rushed to a private hospital in Yadavagiri where she was operated late in the evening.
An elderly woman Chikkamma suffered grievous head injuries and is undergoing treatment at the same hospital. Another person, was also seriously hurt, and is admitted at a hospital in Bannimantap.
The remaining who suffered head injuries and sprain were treated as outpatients, said a police.
Majority among the injured are from Edathele in Nanjangud taluk, while others were from Kadakola and Mysore. The police said apart from negligence in driving it was a clear case of overload as the vehicle was carrying passengers against its actual capacity of 13.
However, the driver took to heels soon after the incident.
The police said, though the mishap occurred on the busy stretch, there were no vehicles coming immediately behind, a matter of relief.
Moreover, had the vehicle fallen on to the right side there were chances of major mishap as the vehicles were coming towards city from the opposite direction.
Smooth flow of traffic was disrupted for sometime.
One of the victims Usman Shariff, a resident of A J Block in Mysore who was travelling towards Srirangapatna in the same vehicle has lodged a complaint in this regard.
N R Traffic police have registered a case.
