Post-mishap, Car Hangs on Kumbra Bridge – Lucky Escape for Family
Puttur: The hazardous Kumbra bridge, located in Olamogaru village on the Mani-Mysuru state highway 88, has seen dozens of mishaps in recent years.
In spite of laying of three speed-breakers on either side of the bridge, the number of accidents has seen only a marginal reduction.
Kumbra residents recall that in the past year alone, over ten mishaps took place in which three had lost their lives.
The location of the bridge between two steep slopes – one from the Kumbra junction and another from Parpunja direction – in addition to the curves has been the cause of the mishaps.
The driver and four passengers of a car from Napoklu in Kodagu, who were on their way to Mangaluru, had a providential escape when their car got smashed between two lorries right in the middle of the bridge on Friday.
One of the lorries was laden with sand and was on its way from Puttur to Sullia. Another lorry rammed into it from behind in the middle of the bridge. One of them turned right across.
In the meantime, the car arriving from the southern side, which was immediately behind, got smashed between them and got pushed almost off the bridge.
Fortunately for the occupants, the car got stuck on the broken edge of the bridge in a semi-suspended condition. If it had fallen off, it would have crashed into a depth of 20 feet, leading to fatalities.
Traffic was blocked on the highway for a few hours. The police arrived from rural station in Sampya and cleared the blockade.
(Pic sent by a reader by Whatsapp)