Karnataka: 60 passengers have narrow escape as elephant attacks KSRTC bus

CHAMARAJANAGAR: They call it miracle! Sixty passengers who were traveling on the Chikkamagaluru-Kozhikode Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) bus had a narrow escape when a mother elephant attacked the bus - it ran after the vehicle - at Mulehole near Gundlupet town of the Chamarajanagar district in Karnataka on Sunday evening. Even though the mother elephant attacked the bus with its trumpet, the driver saved the lives of the passengers by reversing the bus beside honking continuously. According to the passengers, the KSRTC bus was on its way to Kozhikode via Bandipur National Park. It left the Chikkamagaluru at 7.30am on Sunday. Near Mulehole, where a herd of elephants with a cub was wandering, the mother elephant saw the bus and charged towards it twice and tried to topple the bus with its trumpet. But, the alert bus driver reversed to escape the whole herd. When the mother elephant attacked the bus, he honked continuously which made the elephant return without damaging the bus further. The passengers also tried to panic the elephant by screaming loudly. Sivan, a resident of Chamarajanagar who was travelling in the bus, said that around five to six elephants were in the herd. "When the mother elephant started charging towards the bus, the driver reversed the bus. But the elephant was charging so speedily that within a minute, it reached us. But as the driver honked continuously and people started screaming, it left without damaging. It was like a miracle. All the passengers had a sigh of relief when the elephant returned," he recalled the incident. Source: Times of India