Markapuram: Six die, 3 hurt as car hits auto-rickshaw

Markapuram (Prakasam district) : Six people, including two boys, died and three others were injured when a car hit an autorickshaw at Devaraju Gattu in Peddaraveedu mandal on Friday.

According to the locals and police, Rayi Venkateswara Rao, 62, and Rayi Nageswara Rao, 55, residents of Chandramouli Nagar in Guntur town were returning home from a housewarming function of their relatives at Komarole in their car (No AP07DY9499).

When they were travelling on the flyover at Devaraju Gattu, car lost control and hit an auto-rikshaw coming in the opposite direction. Driver of auto-rickshaw Shaik Mabu, 54, and a boy Yenibera Abhinay, 12, died on the spot along with both passengers in the car.

Abhinay and his younger brother Ratnateja, of Dupadu village in Tripurantakam mandal, were going to their grandmother’s house as she promised them to buy new clothes for Christmas when the mishap occurred.

Uppalapati Daniyelu of Dornala, Nellore Mythili, Shaik Mushda and Kamran, students at NS Agricultural College who were also travelling in the auto-rickshaw were injured in the accident. Of them, Ratnateja and Daniyelu succumbed later while being taken to hospital in Guntur. The police shifted them first to Markapuram government hospital but were told to shift to Guntur for better treatment as their condition was serious.

Peddaraveedu SI Raj Kumar registered a case and started investigation, while the Markapuram DSP G Veeraraghava Reddy visited the spot.