Bengaluru: A 22-year-old woman died here after getting stuck in neck-deep water, trapped in a car along with her family and a driver at the KR Circle underpass during heavy rainfall on Sunday.
The car she was travelling in was submerged in water in the heart of the city, near Vidhana Soudha, the seat of power in Karnataka, a day after the new government led by Siddaramaiah was sworn in.
Bhanurekha, 22, worked at the IT firm Infosys. Her family from Vijayawada in Andra Pradesh had rented a car to visit Bengaluru.
Fire and emergency services personnel rushed to the spot and saved five others of the family and the driver, with the help of people who had come to save those trapped in the flooded underpass.
The victim as well as the others were taken to St Martha's Hospital where doctors declared the woman dead.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah also rushed to the hospital and took stock of the situation. He announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the relatives of the deceased and free treatment for those admitted in the hospital.
"Due to the downpour, the barricade at the underpass fell down and the driver took the risk of crossing the underpass, which he should not have," Siddaramaiah told reporters.
When reporters who were covering the incident complained that doctors refused to treat Bhanurekha, who was alive when she was taken to the hospital, Siddaramaiah said he will get it investigated and initiate action.
According to the bystanders, the car driver tried to zoom through the water, but in the middle of the underpass the car almost got submerged. The occupants of the vehicle came out frantically trying to save themselves.
When the family started crying for help, people nearby rushed to their rescue. They threw sarees and ropes to help them keep afloat. Those entrapped tried to climb up but failed. While two of them were dragged out by swimmers of the emergency services personnel, others were brought out using a ladder.
According to those who rescued the family, by the time the fire department and others reached the family, five of them were sitting atop the car crying, while Bhanurekha was still stuck inside.
One of the people who was involved in the rescue told the media that Bhanurekha had thrown up water after she was pulled out and was rushed to the hospital immediately. However, she did not receive any medical help for at least 15 minutes, he alleged.
An autorickshaw was also trapped at KR Circle and a woman passenger saved her life by climbing on top of the vehicle. The rescuers saved her too.
The city witnessed heavy rains and hailstorms on Sunday and due to this, the water level started increasing.
Several vehicles have also been reported getting trapped at another waterlogged underpass near Majestic, also in the centre of the city. People struggled hard to come out of their vehicles.
Many complained that the place gets flooded whenever there is heavy rainfall in the city and no measures have been taken to prevent it. Rainwater entered several houses too due to the sudden downpour in the city.
Many other areas were waterlogged, including the posh areas like Malleswaram and Rajaji Nagar, as well as Srirampuram, certain areas in Kengeri, Mysuru Road and several other low-lying areas.
Trees in various localities came down crashing, damaging home and vehicles. Traffic was thrown out of gear after trees fell.
"We are getting complaints of waterlogging, and trees crashing from all over Bengaluru," a Bengaluru civic agency official told PTI.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah who visited the hospital told the media that according to the doctors, Bhanurekha was brought dead to the hospital.
Siddaramaiah added that there were barricades installed near the underpass, however, they had fallen down due to the rain. "Water entered the car, the glass got stuck," the CM said.
Following the tragic incident, Karnataka's opposition JD-S on Sunday blasted the Bengaluru civic agency. JD-S leader and former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy accused the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) of not initiating any precautionary measure even as heavy downpour was predicted.
"I was shocked to know about the death of Infosys staffer Bhanurekha after getting stuck in the underpass inundated with water. This is the height of negligence by BBMP officers even as it is heavily raining in the recent past," he said.
"The BBMP has to ensure that there is no debris in the underpass to prevent water-logging. The BBMP had slept over it causing a death. Every time, BBMP only wakes up after deaths. Is it inevitable for the people to die every time it rains?" he questioned.
Vehicle drivers should drive carefully when it rains in the city. Even after seeing underpass inundated with water, the driver should not have entered underpass. The traffic police should have warned the vehicle driver, Kumaraswamy stated.
BBMP officers should immediately take stock of all underpasses in the city and ensure that they don't get inundated. They should ensure water moves out of underpass when it rains, he demanded. The Congress government should come up with permanent solution in this regard, he said.