15 killed in tempo-bus collision in Karnataka

BANGALORE: Fifteen people were killed Monday when their tempo collided with a passenger bus on the Bangalore-Pune highway near Karnataka's Tumkur town."The tragic mishap occurred when the overcrowded tempo collided head-on with a state-run passenger bus while attempting to overtake another vehicle on Bangalore-Pune National Highway Number 4," Tumkur Deputy Commissioner C. Somashekara told IANS.The accident took place near Tumkur, about 75 km from here, around 1 p.m.Passengers in the KSRTC bus coming to Bangalore from Shimoga escaped with minor injuries. The victims were all from the tempo and belonged to Gubbi village, about 20 km from Tumkur."Of the 20 people travelling in the tempo, five people who were injured in the mishap have been rushed to the state-run hospital at Tumkur. The bodies of the victims will be shifted from the spot at Heggare village to Tumkur for identification and handing over to their relatives," Somashekara said.According to one of the injured, the young tempo driver, who also died in the mishap, overtook a vehicle and collided with the bus coming from the opposite side at high speed."As a result, the 15 people belonging to different families died instantaneously. The state government has decided to give Rs.50,000 each to the families of the victims after identification as compensation and Rs.15,000 to the injured," Somashekara said.The district police also ordered an inquiry and booked a case of negligence against the tempo's owner and driver for carrying seven more passengers than its capacity of 13, including the driver.