Andhra Pradesh road mishap: Accident spot identified as black spot'

Tirupati: Four Spanish nationals and their driver were killed when a truck rammed into the minibus in which they were travelling. The accident occurred near Madanapalle in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh on Saturday. The victims include two women. Nine other Spanish nationals were also injured in the accident and are admitted in a hospital at  Bengaluru.

The Spanish nationals had come to see the development activities initiated by the Rural Development Trust, a well-known NGO run by a group from Spain, in the villages of Anantapur district. After their visit, they were on their way to Puducherry. They set off from Anantapur at about 6.30am and the accident took place at 9.30am at an ‘S’ shaped curve near Yaataalavanka village on the Madanapalle-Pung-anuru Road, 9 km from Madanapalle.

The place where the accident took place had been identified earlier as a ‘black spot’ by a road safety committee, chaired by collector PS Pradyumna. Caution boards, indicating accident-prone sections, were placed along the highway.

Speaking about the ‘black spot’, Superint-endent of Police S.V. Rajasekhar Babu said, “Many accidents have taken place at the same spot. A couple of months ago, a police team, accompanied by officers of the roads and buildings department, visited the spot and decided to straighten the road. All permissions are given and the work has started. We had cleared the bushes on both sides of the road to improve visibility.”

Collector Pradyumna visited the accident spot along with Mr. Rajasekhar Babu. Speaking to the media, Pradyumna said, “As per the instructions of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, we are coordinating with the Spanish embassy in India. We have identified the bodies. We will make arrangements to dispatch the bodies once the post-mortem is conducted.”

The victims are identified as Vincent Perez, Josefa Moran, Francisco Pedrosa and Nieves Lopez.