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MANGALURU: Three persons, two from a family, were killed and three more sustained grievous injuries when a tipper rolled over a car and a two wheeler at Nanthoor Circle here, after the driver lost control over the vehicle due to over speeding. The deceased have been identified as Preetham, 21, resident of Ullal, Veena, 40, her son Nithesh, 13 from Bantwal. The injured are pillion Shweta, 18 from Ullal, Krishna, 46 and his daughter Nikthita, 10, from Bantwal. Krishna, husband of Veena, was a teacher at Kendriya Vidyalaya, Panambur. The incident happened at 5.15 pm when the tipper, car and two-wheeler moving from the same direction - from Karnataka Polytechnic towards Nanthoor Circle. The over speeding tipper driver failed to avoid the crane, which was moving in front of him developed a puncture and slowed down. After ramming the rear of the crane, the driver moved the vehicle towards the extreme left near Nanthoor circle and hit an electric pole. After the impact, the tipper rolled over the car and two- wheeler which were waiting for traffic to pass from Pumpwell side towards Udupi. The impact was such that the car was a mangled mess and the victims were extricated by public with great difficulty. The car passengers on one side and back seat were crushed to death while the car driver Krishna was seriously injured. Three injured have been admitted to Mangala Hospital and Kidney Foundation. Hospital operation in charge Avinash said that the condition of the survivors was serious and they are under observation for the next 24 hours. Nithesh was alive when he was removed from the mangled car but soon succumbed to extensive injuries. The pillion Shweta suffered a fracture hand. ACP (Traffic) Uday Nayak said the tipper driver fled from the scene immediately after the incident. The tipper belongs to a person in Bantwal. He said the tipper driver was over speeding from Padavu itself and the vacuum brakes may have failed after the accident and not before the accident indicating rash and negligent driving. The accident left the police and public grappling with traffic gridlock at the crucial point where two National Highways meet for about three hours.

Family members of the victim stage protest

The relatives of Preetham Pinto, along with locals and some community members gathered at the accident spot and staged a protest, a few hours after the accident. Just within hours after Preetham succumbed to injuries, his cousin, said to be member of a community Academy, along with Academy president Roy Castelino and others gathered near Nanthoor junction and held a protest. The understandable issue was despite serious accidents at Nanthoor circle, the authorities had failed to take any suitable measures to set right the problem. It is reported that there is no proper system or enough police personnel to monitor the traffic at this junction. The group demanded that the lorry driver be arrested without delay. They also demanded that the DCP visit the spot and give assurance before the protest was ended. Local residents supported and joined the protest and they blocked traffic for some time. The Kadri police arrived at Nanthoor and failed to assure the protesters. The situation got out of control, the reserve special police team was called into action and the police resorted to baton charge to disperse the crowd which was scattered. The police said that though a protest was the right of the public, the public inconvenience caused by blocking the traffic was incorrect and they had to resort to remedial action.