Crash victims' kin cope with tragedy

Nagaraj, a supervisor with Anjaneya Brick Works whose wife Bhagyalakshmi (46) and son Arun Kumar (26) were among the dead, wishes if only they had returned on Sunday night, as scheduled.

Fate, however, had other plans as their return was delayed because of unknown reasons. A total of 12 persons, including Bhagyalakshmi and Arun, had gone to the pilgrimage to the Om Shakti Temple, Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu on Friday morning.

Prakash, driver of the ill-fated tempo traveller that rammed a granite-laden lorry at 2.30 am, was in a great hurry as he had to drop a call centre employee in Bangalore to office on Monday morning. So, he accelerated the vehicle resulting in the fatal accident. Arun, an MBA student, was the second child of Nagaraj and Bhagyalakshmi. 

Gayathri, wife of BPO employee Jayaram Reddy (45) who also perished in the accident, is battling for life. While the couple's 18-year-old son Prithvi also died in the mishap, another son Kishore and relatives Manoj and Vinay are recuperating at a City hospital. Jayaram's nieces Suguna (18) and Sruthi (16) who lived in Banaswadi, had only joined him for the trip.
The last rites of Bhagyalakshmi and Arun were performed at the crematorium near Jeevan Bima Nagar on Monday evening. Others were laid to rest on Tuesday.