Alert bus driver is saviour on the day
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TIMES NEWS NETWORK
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B Gunaseelan has been
driving MTC buses for 27 years but had never seen the road beneath his
vehicle come apart. After he pulled up at the Thousand Lights bus stop
on Anna Salai near Gemini flyover, the 55-year-old could feel that the
bus was sinking.
“I thought the front tyre had gone flat. So I told
my conductor that the bus may have an issue and looked out from my
seat,“ said Gunaseelan. Just then he saw the asphalt coming apart, and
instead of raising an alarm and jumping off the bus, Gunaseelan calmly
asked his passengers to leave the vehicle.
“I asked the passengers to exit the bus. I did not tell them that the road was caving in because they would have panicked,“ said Gunaseelan whose presence of mind helped 35 commuters escape unhurt even as the vehicle plunged into a 2-metre-deep crater on the arterial road.
R Pradeep, who was tail ing the bus in a sedan, was not as fortunate as the passengers. The 30-year-old doctor from Mogappair West tried to drive past the bus, which was bound for Vadapalani from Anna Square on route 25G, but the car got stuck and plunged into the crater. The sedan's door was jammed and Pradeep was trapped. “But thankfully a few people came to my help.They opened the door and I was able to get out unhurt,“ said Pradeep.
As news of the cave-in spread, people thronged Anna Salai. Several motorists parked their vehicles nearby and took photographs. The crowd posed a problem for the police personnel who faced a tough time managing the traffic and people.
“I did not expect the road to sink in suddenly,“ said Ramesh, the bus conductor.Before being mobbed by the television crew for a sound byte, Ramesh quipped, “Gunaseelan has become famous now,“ referring to the reporters who had surrounded his veteran colleague by then.
“I asked the passengers to exit the bus. I did not tell them that the road was caving in because they would have panicked,“ said Gunaseelan whose presence of mind helped 35 commuters escape unhurt even as the vehicle plunged into a 2-metre-deep crater on the arterial road.
R Pradeep, who was tail ing the bus in a sedan, was not as fortunate as the passengers. The 30-year-old doctor from Mogappair West tried to drive past the bus, which was bound for Vadapalani from Anna Square on route 25G, but the car got stuck and plunged into the crater. The sedan's door was jammed and Pradeep was trapped. “But thankfully a few people came to my help.They opened the door and I was able to get out unhurt,“ said Pradeep.
As news of the cave-in spread, people thronged Anna Salai. Several motorists parked their vehicles nearby and took photographs. The crowd posed a problem for the police personnel who faced a tough time managing the traffic and people.
“I did not expect the road to sink in suddenly,“ said Ramesh, the bus conductor.Before being mobbed by the television crew for a sound byte, Ramesh quipped, “Gunaseelan has become famous now,“ referring to the reporters who had surrounded his veteran colleague by then.
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