Goemkarponn desk
CANACONA: The driver and cleaner of a Karnataka bound truck had a miraculous escape as their truck fell short of landing in a water body by inches after the driver lost control over his vehicle just before reaching the beginning of the Talpona bridge on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday.
However, the oil from the engine has leaked into the water body, and a dark thick oily substance was found floating near the ill-fated truck.
Canacona police informed that the ill-fated multi-axle truck bearing registration number KA-02-AF-2969 was travelling from Ponda towards Karnataka.
Police also informed that the truck was carrying iron ingots from a factory in Ponda, and when it reached Rajbagh the driver lost control over his vehicle and, after hitting the crash barrier, landed down a slope of about 15 mt.
Sources at the accident site informed that it looks like the two hind tyres of the truck busted first, and the truck hit the meridian of the road; the rear axle then broke away from the truck and collided against the crash barrier before landing into the slope down under.
Police informed that the truck driver, one person named Chinappa a resident of Bangalore and cleaner Shivkumar sustained minor injuries and is under observation at Canacona Health Centre.
However, when this correspondent visited the spot of the accident, it was observed that the heavy iron ingots fell from the truck just where it hit the crash barrier, and the truck was found damaged, and the trucks front portion was towards Margao while the truck was proceeding towards Karwar.
A bystander pointed at an oil leak spread to about 10 sq mt, and no authority had even observed that the oil pollution could be harmful to the aquatic animals and plants in the water body, it has to be removed before it goes further, he said.