As many as eight persons, including two women, died and 59 were injured when a KSRTC bus fell into the Vishnusagara tank at Belur on Tuesday morning.
The bus was carrying around 70 people, many of them students, from Sakleshpur to Belur. As it was passing through the narrow road next to the tank, the driver lost control after the axle rod connecting the steering wheel got cut, plunging the bus into the tank. Among the dead, Vivina Pinto (19) of Kagegarje village in Belur taluk, was a second year B.Com student. The others have been identified as Yashoda (27) of Bikkodu, Tammana Gowda (65) of Intitolalu, Gopala (35) of Nandagodanahalli, Mohammed (35) of Arehalli, Nagaraja of Bikkodu — all residents of Belur taluk, Lokesh Naik (30) of Somenahalli tanda in Kadur taluk of Chikmagalur district, and bus conductor Vishwanath of Nidaghatta in Javagal hobli of Arsikere taluk.
Around 15 college students and youths came out of the bus through the windows and the door as the bus was not fully immersed in water. They rescued others by breaking open the window panes of the bus.
