Tirupati: 12 killed after truck rams into van, bike

Tirupati: At least 12 people, most of them women, were killed and several others injured when a truck rammed into a mini-van and a motorcycle on the Chittoor-Bengaluru highway at Mogili ghat road, near Bangarupalem mandal in Chittoor district on Friday night.

According to the police, the truck laden with drinking water bottles was travelling to Gangavaram from Chittoor, when it first rammed into a road divider, then hurtled onto the other side where it rammed into a motorbike, a Maruti Omni and an auto-rickshaw. The driver of the truck reportedly lost control of the truck after the brakes of the vehicle failed and rammed into the vehicles, killing at least 12 people on the spot and also causing severe injuries to at least five others, police said.

The local police immediately rushed to the spot and shifted the injured to Palamaner government hospital for treatment. The police also roped in a crane to pull back the truck to retrieve the dead bodies which lay crushed under the truck.

During the preliminary investigation, police identified nine out of the 12 deceased as Ramachandra (50), Ramu (38), Savitramma (40), Prameela (37), Gurramma (52), Subramanyam (49), Sekhar (45), Papamma (49) - all belonging to Marrimakula village in Gangavaram mandal.

All the nine deceased are said to be from the same family. They had been to a nearby village on Friday morning to console their relatives who had recently lost someone in the family.   

The motorist who was crushed to death was identified as Narendra (37), a resident of Balijapalli in Palamaner mandal.

According to police, the condition of three persons, admitted to the Palamaner government hospital, was said to be critical.

The police are trying to ascertain the details of the remaining deceased persons.

Meanwhile, on learning about the mishap Chittoor district collector Narayana Bharat Gupta immediately rushed to the spot and inspected the accident site.

The collector directed the hospital authorities to provide better treatment to the accident victims and also ordered the officials to provide medical help to them even at private hospitals.