Kerala school tour tragedy: Old video of bus driver surfaces, shows him standing, dancing behind the wheel - WATCH

Kollam: A pall of gloom descended on the whole of Kerala after the news broke that several school students lost their lives in an accident in Vadakkancherry on Wednesday midnight. Nine people including five kids and a teacher were among the dead after the tourist bus they were travelling collided with a KSRTC Super Fast. The school group was an excursion when the tragedy struck.

Following the mishap, several survivors reportedly revealed that Jojo alias Joemon, the driver of the tourist bus, was rash and careless. The students said that he disagreed to slow down despite multiple requests by the students as well as the teachers. Overspeeding by the tourist bus caused the accident, onlookers also had confirmed.

Meanwhile, Joemon upset the public by fleeing from the hospital he was admitted. He walked out by posing as a teacher injured in the accident. Joemon disappeared yet again after reporting before the police and had to be tracked down while on his way to visit a criminal lawyer in the state capital.

Now, an old video of Joemon has surfaced in which he was seen driving a bus by standing up on a side and dancing to the tune of DJ music.

In the footage, he stands close to the driver's seat of a tourist bus -- towards the right side of the steering. He dances and talks to people on the bus for a reasonable time before finally taking the seat. It becomes even scarier as he is driving the bus on public road on a rainy day. Several vehicles can be seen approaching the bus from the other side. Joemon is hailed for his "skill" by other occupants in the bus, including the man behind the camera.

The state Motor Vehicle Department has received the video and has launched a probe, Asianet said in a report.

Malayalam media had reported that Joemon was accused in a case of drunken driving in 2018. Earlier this year, he was also booked for attacking an office of the CPM youth wing in Ernakulam district, the reports added.

Joemon was driving a bus on its way to Ooty in Tamil Nadu with students and teachers of Baselios Vidyanikethan in Ernakulam’s Mulanthuruthy when the accident happened.