‘Black Saturday’: 37 lives lost in one morning including 5 deaths near Chitradurga, says senior cop

37 lives lost in road accidents in Karnataka, including 5 deaths in a crash between a car and a goods truck.

Karnataka's traffic and safety top cop on Sunday said as many as 37 lives were lost in one morning owing to road accidents in the state. This figure includes the five deaths caused near Chitradurga area in a crash between a car and a goods truck.

The Karnataka capital has seen frequent accidents on the NICE road as well as the Bengaluru-Mysuru expressway.(X (formerly Twitter))

The Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) for Traffic and Safety, Karnataka, Alok Kumar, wrote a message on social media site X, formerly Twitter, terming the day “black Saturday”. He also wrote that bikers formed the largest chunk of victims in road accidents and that they should use helmets for their own safety.

The senior IPS officer, who was a former police commissioner for Bengaluru and an ADGP for Law and Enforcement, also advised that inexperienced drivers should avoid driving late at night.

“Black Saturday. 37 lives lost including 5 deaths near Chitradurga in early morning today, where the car hit the lorry from behind. Bike riders form the largest chunk. Inexperienced drivers must avoid night driving. Two wheeler riders should use helmet for their own safety,” Alok Kumar posted on X.

This comes after a gruesome accident in Chitradurga district on Sunday, when a car rammed into a goods truck from behind on National Highway 13, which killed all five occupants in the car and injured three others, according to India Today. One of the deceased, Sanganabassappa, was driving the Tata Nexon car along with his family as they were travelling to Chikkamagaluru from Vijayapura, the publication added.

In a separate incident in Bengaluru on Sunday, a 73-year-old woman died after the bike she was on crashed into a parked lorry on the NICE road, the Deccan Herald reported.