2 women workers of prawn unit killed as bus overturns

Bhimavaram: Two women workers were killed on the spot and 20 others injured when the minibus in which they were travelling overturned and fell into an irrigation channel at prawn processing unit near Bhimavaram town of West Godavari district in the wee hours of Friday.

According to police, about 40 women workers, who are working in a private prawn processing unit in Yanamadurru road near Bhimavaram town, boarded the company’s minibus to return to their hostel after completing the work.

When the vehicle reached Yanamadurru road, suddenly overturned near KGRL College and fell into an irrigation channel. There is no water in the channel. Passersby could not notice the bus as the area was filled with dense fog and darkness.

On hearing the screaming of women, passersby immediately reached the spot and rescued some workers. However, Laisa (23) and Sundari (46) of Barampuram district in Odisha died on the spot. About 20 people were injured in the mishap.

The health condition of the two women stated to be critical. The I-Town police reached the spot and shifted the injured to Bhimavaram Government hospital in 108 ambulances. Some of the injured were shifted to a private hospital for better treatment.

The police shifted the bodies of the victims to the hospital for post-mortem. Narsapur DSP T Prabhakar Babu, CI Desisetty Venkateswara Rao visited the hospital and enquired the victims about the accident. The police said accident occurred due to driver’s negligence and they took him into the custody.