3 engineering students dead after car crashes into tree in Kolar, one miraculously survives

KOLAR: Three engineering students died on the spot while another miraculously survived with just a bruise on his forehead after the Audi car they were travelling in crashed into a roadside tree at Sahakar Nagar on Bangarpet Main Road here in the wee hours on Saturday.

The accident occurred when they were trying to overtake a truck. The car was ripped into two parts due to the impact.

The deceased (from left) Prajwal, Basavaraj and Harshavardhan.

The deceased are Harshavardhan, hailing from Hassan, Basavaraj from Ballari and Prajwal of Bangarpet, who was driving the car. The lone survivor is Sai Gagan, also of Bangarpet. The youths had come from Bengaluru to Bangarpet and were returning to distribute invitation cards for Sai Gagan’s sister’s wedding, slated for August 11, when the accident occurred. All are students of an engineering college in Bengaluru.

Sai Gagan, the lone survivor of the crash, speaking to the media.

“My friends had come to Bangarpet to help distribute the invitation cards. The accident occurred when the driver lost control while trying to overtake a truck. We were planning to distribute the cards early and return soon. I was looking into my phone when the car crashed. I don’t know what happened. I was in the co-passenger seat and I was lucky the airbag opened. I was shocked to see my classmates dead. I don’t know to whom the car belongs, but Prajwal was driving”, Sai Gagan told reporters.

The Kolar Rural police visited the spot and have registered a case.

In another accident, five schoolchildren were injured after the school bus belonging to Green Valley School, in which they were travelling, overturned into a roadside ditch near Kooteri village on Saturday morning.

There were more than 30 schoolchildren in the bus when the accident occurred. The injured bus driver and schoolchildren were admitted to the Kolar district hospital for treatment of injuries. The Kolar Rural police visited the spot and have registered a case.