Five first-year MBBS students, who were studying at Vandanam Government Medical College hospital in Kerala's Alappuzha, died after their car collided head-on with a Kerala State Road Transportation Corporation (KSRTC) passenger bus in Kalarcode on Monday. In the incident, six other passengers also sustained minor injuries and are currently receiving treatment at the nearby government hospital. The tragedy has left the families and friends of the deceased students in shock as they had been in contact until hours before the mishap.
The deceased have been identified as Mohammed Abdul Jabbar (Kannur), Mohammed Ibrahim (Lakshadweep), Devanandan (Malappuram), Ayush Shaji (Alappuzha), and Srideep (Palakkad), as per a report on PTI.
On Tuesday, Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan expressed his sadness and condolences to the kin of the deceased members.
The CCTV footage of the accident revealed that the car, traveling at high speed on a rainy night, lost control, skidded, and collided with the bus before being crushed beneath it. Eyewitnesses reported that three students died on the spot, while others succumbed to their injuries later.
Local residents, who rushed to the spot, described the aftermath as horrific. One bystander shared how the cries for help from the trapped victims haunted him hours after the accident. “One of them held my hand, pleading for help, and became unconscious moments later,” he recounted.
Initial reports suggested that the car driver lost control while overtaking another vehicle on the rain-slick road. Alappuzha Municipal Vice-Chairman PSM Hussain stated that the vehicle likely skidded when the brakes were applied, causing the collision, as per a report on IANS. The KSRTC bus driver corroborated this, saying that the car's speed made it impossible to prevent the crash despite his best efforts.
An MBBS student from the same college shared that one of the victims, his roommate, had mentioned plans to watch a movie in Kochi just hours before the accident. "We joined the college only a month and a half ago, but I knew him from our entrance exam days," the friend said, deeply shaken by the tragedy.