For 45-year-old Radha, the conductor who was in the bus that collided with a lorry on the Mirjaguda road, the Tandur–Hyderabad route was nothing new. Since 2010, she had followed the same rhythm — waking up before dawn, cooking for husband and two children, and heading out for her 4:40 a.m. shift. Monday was supposed to be no different, with two consecutive offs ahead.
By 4 a.m., she had packed lunch for herself and her niece Shravani in Langar Houz, something she did every week. Her son dropped her off at the Tandur bus depot, and when she realised she had forgotten her coat, he rushed back home to get it. Clad in a pink suit and khakhi overcoat, Radha boarded the ill-fated bus.
“After issuing tickets, I was sitting on the left side when I saw the lorry coming straight at us,” recalled Radha, now recovering at Dr. Patnam Mahender Reddy Institute of Medical Sciences (PMRIMS). “The driver swerved to the left, but before we could realise what was happening, there was gravel everywhere.”
She sustained a 10-centimetre-deep gash on the centre of her forehead, with gravel and concrete lodged in due to the collision. She required surgery and eight stitches.
45-year-old Radha, the conductor on the ill fated bus that collided with a tipper lorry in Chevella on Monday, while undergoing treatment at Dr. Patnam Mahender Reddy General Hospital in Chevella, Ranga Reddy district on Monday. | Photo Credit: NAGARA GOPAL
