Five people in their early twenties died instantaneously on Saturday after their car collided with a bus near APS College at Somanahalli on Kanakapura Road in the city.

The deceased had been identified as Yasir Khan, Syed Ayub Pasha, Yarab Abbas, Mayur Sharma and Mohammed Junaid.

Taufiq Ahmed Sharif, a relative of one of the deceased, said the five were good friends. They had gone for an outing

as Yasir was supposed to leave for Saudi Arabia by September-end to set up a business, while Mayur was getting married.

“This was to be their last party with Yasir and Mayur as a bachelor, so they had gone out for lunch along with a few other friends,” he said.

The cause of the accident could not be known, owing to conflicting eyewitness accounts. A police officer, quoting an eyewitness, said a speeding sedan rammed into a Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) bus after it lost control while trying to overtake a vehicle. Yasir is said to have been driving the car.

The bus on route number 213-D was on its way to Kempaiahnapalya near Byramangala from K R Market, while the car was coming to the City.

Another eyewitness, Ravi Shekhar, told Deccan Herald: “The front tyre of the car burst while it was approaching the bus, which resulted in the driver losing control and hitting the bus. The bus driver tried avoiding the collision but everything happened too quickly.”

K Ramamurthy, South Division Controller, BMTC, who inspected the spot, said: “Mallappa Hondi (driver) is a driver with more than 10 years experience with the corporation and has no such incidents in his record.

“According to initial information we received from a driver of another bus, our vehicle was on the extreme left when the car hit it. Prima facie, there seems to be no mistake on the bus driver’s part.”

Another official said the bus had just started from a stand (near KPTCL), barely 150 metres from the accident site.

“This means the driver could not pick up speed. At the best, he was going at 30 kmph,” the official pointed out.

While no confirmation was available on the occupation of the deceased, police said Mayur Sharma lived at Shantinagar.“Junaid and Pasha were residents of Ashoknagar and Abbas and Khan were from Neelasandra. All of them worked with private firms. Only their families can shed some more light,” said a police officer.

The stretch of NH-209 on Kanakapura Road is in pathetic condition with no streetlights and road dividers.

The canopy of trees on the road blurs visibility. Despite heavy movement of vehicles on this road is not yet monitored by any traffic cops or traffic signals. There is not even a single speed breaker on the road.