Alert driver crashes DTC bus into tree to avert major accident

Fifteen passengers, including four women, were injured when the driver of a DTC bus with failed brakes rammed his vehicle into a tree to avoid a major road mishap in southeast Delhi on Wednesday.

Fifteen passengers, including four women, were injured when the driver of a DTC bus with failed brakes rammed his vehicle into a tree to avoid a major road mishap in southeast Delhi on Wednesday.

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The accident was reported from an intersection near Sangam Vihar's Batra Hospital around 9.30am. The Delhi Transport Corporation bus was plying on route 463 from Lajpat Nagar to Khanpur.

"When the bus reached the busy intersection, Hari Kishan, the bus driver, realised that the brakes of the vehicle had failed. He was supposed to halt the bus at a traffic signal," said an officer.

Remembering that he was left with no other alternative, Kishan decided to ram the vehicle into a tree by the roadside. He too was injured in the accident.

"I suddenly realised that the brakes were not working and the traffic light was red and a few vehicles had already stopped at the intersection,” Hari Kishan said.

Suddenly, I saw a tree by the roadside and all I could think of at that time was whether there was any way I could ram the bus into the tree so that it could be stopped," he added.

All the 15 passengers travelling on the bus were rushed to different hospitals in the city, from where they were discharged after being administered first aid. "No one suffered critical injuries due to the accident," the officer maintained.