AP shocked by ghastly accident

Palamaneru: Seven people died and 33 others sustained severe injuries in a ghastly accident that took place on Friday on the Mogili ghat road of Bangarupalayam mandal of Chittoor district, when a Bengaluru-bound APSRTC bus collided with a truck. This led to a chain of accidents as two other vehicles hit a tempo.

According to the police, the truck crossed the divider and crashed into the bus. “We have identified seven dead bodies and 33 people were injured in the accident,” they said. The police said the bus was coming from Palamaner to Chittoor Alipiri depot when it lost control and crashed into a truck carrying iron rods. This led to heavy roadblock as the traffic behind the bus had come to a halt and being the ghat road, it took some time for the police to reach the place of accident.

As the front portion of the bus was damaged beyond recognition and as iron rods fell on to the bus, it was a Herculean task for the locals who reached the spot ahead of the police and tried to bring the people out of the bus. Six of the passengers died on the spot while another succumbed to injuries on his way to hospital. The entire area was full of blood spilled all around as the iron rods pierced into their bodies. Of the 33 injured, 25 were shifted to Palamaner and eight to Chittoor hospitals.

Five of the seven dead have been identified. They are S Vijayamma (53) (Kambalamitta, Pakala Mandal), Hansika Yadav (6) (Maharaj Ganj Maharashtra), Balaraju (Siddipet, Telangana), Sonu Kumar (31) (Baliya, UP- driver of trailer), S Manoharan (56) (Chamanthipuram, Tirupati). Post mortem of the five were performed in the district hospital in Chittoor.

Meanwhile, Palamaner MLA Amarnath Reddy and Puthalapattu MLA Kalikiri MuraliMohan visited the hospital in Chittoor where the injured were undergoing treatment. The MLAs requested the doctors to ensure best treatment available for the speedy recovery of the injured.

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu expressed his shock over the incident and announced an ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh each to the kin of the deceased who died in the accident.

District senior officials, including Collector Sumit Kumar and SP Manikanta Chandodu, Joint Collector Vidyadhari, rushed to the site and monitored the rescue operations.