In a gruesome incident in Bengaluru, a 24-year-old youth’s body was sliced into two after a lorry ran him over on the Tumakuru-Bengaluru highway. The impact was such that the severed lower half of Harish Nanjappa's torso and legs lay strewn on one side, while his head and upper torso lay in the middle of the road.
He survived for around 20 agonising minutes before succumbing to his injuries.
For a few minutes, Nanjappa was on the road pleading for help while passersby looked on in horror. Some filmed his severed body, while others quickly informed the police, who dispatched an ambulance to the scene.
While being taken to a hospital in an ambulance, Nanjappa expressed his desire to donate his organs, to the paramedics. He died before he could be reached to hospital.
"After the accident, he spoke for around 10 minutes to Hoysala (police). He said that his eyes should be donated," said Nanjappa's aunt Lalitha.
The doctors later harvested his eyes and donated it to the hospital.
Describing Nanjappa’s injuries, a doctor from HOSMAT hospital where he was admitted said: "The injury he suffered is called a crush injury, in which a person’s bones, muscles, blood vessels and skin are separated from the body. It is inhuman that so many vehicles passed by. Despite a Supreme Court order, people still refuse to help accident victims. It was heroic of Harish to think of donating his organs to help others even as he lay in the middle of a road. It is possible for a person to survive being dismembered if timely intervention is provided."
Nanjappa was working with a company providing logistics solutions to banks.
Nanjappa's neighbour, Dileep, said that he was saddened by his death.
"He was a very nice boy. The incident happened when he was returning from his village. We are very pained by this. He had purchased a new bike, he also went to the temple to seek blessings for his new bike. They are very poor, they have just one acre of land, and they rely on manual labour for living," said Dileep.
According to reports, police have arrested the lorry driver and booked him for causing death due to rash driving.
Nanjappa is survived by his mother and a brother.
