Kottayam, Wednesday 24 March 2010: At least eleven persons, including four women, a nine-year-old girl and a rescue worker, were killed when a private bus coming to Kottayam from Cherthala lost control, hit an 11-kV electric post and fell into the Meenachil river at Thazhathangadi on the Kumarakom-Kottayam route on Tuesday.

Eighteen persons were admitted to the Kottayam medical college hospital and two to the Kottayam district hospital.

According to eyewitnesses, the bus had apparently hit the electric wires and they saw electric sparks twice, before the bus fell into the river at 2.20 p.m.

Those who could be rescued were the ones who managed to get onto the top of the vehicle which plunged into one of the deepest parts of the Meenachil in the area. According to one of the rescue operators, they could not reach the bus, which was lying nearly 35 ft below.

Those who lost their lives were identified as Kochumon (45) of Kurisummoottil House, Kumarakom; Divya Prasannan (19) of Moolavattom and a student at S.N. College, Kumarakom; Babu Damodaran (46) of Thalavadi; Siby (36) of Ullala near Vaikom; Beena (40) of Paadathara House, Kummanam; her daughter Akhila (9); and Vishnu Viswanath of Vaikom. Satheesh of Kummanam who was engaged in rescue operations collapsed and lost his life on the way to the Kottayam medical college hospital.

After the initial rescue operations, there was a long, painful wait as repeated attempts by the Fire and Rescue Services personnel to retrieve the bus failed, turning the local people restive.

Three additional cranes were pressed into service before it could be partly retrieved by 4.45 p.m. By 4 p.m., teams of the Navy and the Coast Guard arrived, but only the Naval team could proceed to Thazhathangadi as the other helicopter could not find a place to land. The rescue operations were also hindered by the large turnout of local people at the spot.

The driver of the bus, Radhakrishnan (49) of Thottuchirayil House, Achinakom near Vaikom, had a miraculous escape. He is among those who were admitted to the medical college hospital.

While nine bodies could be retrieved from the bus by 7 p.m., confusion over the death toll was lingering, as there was no clarity over the number of people who were on the bus.

The search by the three-member Naval team for the remaining persons would continue into the night as special nightlights were brought to the site from Alappuzha, district authorities said. Revenue Minister K.P. Rajendran declared a financial assistance of Rs.10,000 each to the dependants of those who lost their life and Rs.5,000 each to those who were injured.