3 killed, 5 injured as speeding tipper crashes into bus stop in Kerala’s Kottarakara

The accident site at Nileshwaram in Kottarakara, Kollam district, Kerala, on Tuesday morning (June 23, 2026). | Sureshkumar Three people were killed and five others sustained injuries after a tipper lorry transporting sand collided with a motorcycle and crashed into a bus stop before overturning and trapping waiting commuters under a pile of earth and debris in Kollam, Kerala.The accident took place at Nileshwaram junction in Kottarakara on Tuesday morning around 7.15 am. The deceased have been identified as Parthipan (15), a school student; Harilal (54), a tutorial teacher; and Ajayakumar (50), a Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) mechanic who had reached the spot to drop off his son. The injured individuals include students Kushal (15), Rishabh (15), Navaneeth (13), and Jiby Mol (15), as well as the lorry driver, Nizam (40).According to eyewitnesses, around a dozen people, including several school students, were present at the junction waiting for their morning buses when the truck veered off the road. Preliminary police reports indicate that the truck was speeding and lost control on a curved section of the road while attempting to overtake a motorcycle. The vehicle first struck the motorcycle before crashing into the bus stop shelter and adjacent shop wall. First responders and locals instantly launched an aggressive rescue mission to clear the thick mound of sand, shortly joined by Fire and Rescue Service units from Kundara and Kottarakara. They conducted a tense excavation process that lasted over an hour to lift the overturned truck chassis and pull out the trapped victims.According to eyewitness accounts from the scene, the disaster unfolded in a matter of seconds. Local residents reported seeing the tipper lorry travelling at extreme speed as it exited a pocket road onto the main curved stretch. An eyewitness who narrowly escaped the crash stated that a group of around 10 to 12 children were gathered at the stop to catch the morning bus when the vehicle appeared.“The truck came barrelling down very fast. I managed to quickly grab a couple of children near me and pull them out of the way just in time, but the others were completely hit and pinned face-down as the truck dumped its entire load of sand over them,” she recounted. Other bystanders added that the truck violently swayed and lost balance, before hurtling sideways into the waiting shed.Subsequent investigations by the Motor Vehicles Department (MVD) and local police revealed severe regulatory violations. The First Information Report (FIR) registered against the driver, Nizam, has invoked charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, citing reckless and negligent driving. Officials also confirmed that Nizam, who had returned from UAE just a month prior, did not possess the required heavy-vehicle driving license to operate the tipper truck.Furthermore, MVD investigators also found that the 17-year-old vehicle had its GPS tracking system intentionally turned off at the time of the crash and its tires were completely worn down past legal safety limits. Published - June 23, 2026 09:16 am IST