Boarding a bus to go to school turned fatal for a 28-year-old teacher as she was reportedly crushed between a lorry and the bus she was attempting to board.
The incident happened around 9 am on Tuesday, 5 February, in Uthiramerur near Kanchipuram. The CCTV footage of the accident came out on Friday and is going viral on social media.
According to reports, Sofia and her husband Robin lived with their eight-month-old daughter around two kilometres away from the bus stop. On Thursday morning, Robin dropped Sofia off at the Bukkathurai-Uthiramerur Road and Melavalampettai-Nelvoy Road junction so that she can get on the bus and reach Mahimai Illam, an orphanage in Chengalpattu, where she worked.
As Robin turned his bike around after dropping Sofia off, a lorry drove up from a side road and knocked him off his bike. While Robin was thrown off the bike, the lorry went on to hit the side of the bus which Sofia was trying to board, crushing her.
The lorry driver moved his vehicle backwards so that people around could move in and pick Sofia up.
As the onlookers rushed Sofia and Robin to the government hospital in Chengalpattu, the lorry driver abandoned the vehicle and fled.
Sofia was declared dead on arrival by the doctors in Chengalpattu government hospital. The Salavakkam police registered a case under section 304A (Death caused due to negligent driving) of the IPC and the lorry driver, Ranjith (38) from Madurantakam was arrested the next day, reports say.
In November, a 45-year-old woman was crushed to death as she got stuck between two MTC buses at the T Nagar bus terminus in Chennai.
S Valli, who was scurrying between two buses to check the route board at the front side of the bus, the bus on her right side started taking a turn, without noticing Valli in the gap. The rear portion of the bus trapped her in the gap and hearing her screams the driver stopped the bus. She died on the way to the hospital.
(This article was originally published on The News Minute)
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