Four passengers, including two children, died and 17 were injured when a Volvo bus fell sideways while trying to negotiate a curve in Ankola taluk on late Friday night.

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The accident occurred in Kodlagadde in Ankola police limits on National Highway 63.

The deceased have been identified as: Rajat Jairam Kotian (12), his sister Ritisha Jairam Kotian (7), from Udupi taluk, and Shraddha Mane (20) from Mumbai. The identity of the fourth passenger, a 40-year-old man, was yet to be ascertained.

The bus was going at a high speed on a bad stretch of road. The driver tried to negotiate a curve but lost control and the bus fell on its side, scraping through for some distance. All the four died on the spot. Among the 17 injured, one is serious. They are receiving treatment at Karwar hospital.

1 more could have diedThere could have been a fifth casualty in Shweta Puttaiah Gowda if it were not for the arrival of the deputy commissioner of Uttara Kannada, BN Krishnaiah, who was on his way to Bangalore. He, along with the tahasildar of Ankola taluk, rushed to spot and found that Shweta was stuck under the bus. Even a slight move could have resulted in a severed portion of the vehicle crashing on her.

Krishnaiah, along with two local youth, got into the bus and brought out the girl safely. The rescue workers who were putting the bus back on its wheels had not noticed Shweta trapped under the bus.

This is second such accident in Ankola in the past week. In the previous accident, six persons had died when a KSRTC bus had rolled into a 40-feet ravine after the driver had tried to dodge a large pothole on the road in Harkade in Ankola taluk.