It was a black Saturday for a marriage party as 15 persons were killed and 35 others injured when a private bus collided head on with an overloaded mini-truck and went up in flames at Cherlopalem near Kandukur in Prakasam district.
Eight of the injured, including two in a serious condition, were rushed to the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences here, while the rest were admitted to government and private hospitals at Kandukur, Deputy Superintendent of Police V. Srinivasa Rao said.
In the impact of the collision, the cabin of the mini-truck got separated from the rest of the vehicle, even as the bus, which was carrying a gas cylinder, overturned and caught fire before falling into a ditch.
The toll in the mishap would have been much higher but for the bus, carrying schoolchildren on an excursion to Chennai, Mahabalipuram and other places, dropping all of them at Lingasamudram and other places minutes before the accident, said Kandukur Circle Inspector M. Lakshman.
The bride’s grandmother was among the seven women who died on the spot as also three siblings, leaving the families of the bride and bridegroom both related to each other shell-shocked.
However, the accident did not deter both the families from performing the marriage of 21-year-old S. Surekha and her cousin P. Malyadri, a software professional working in Chennai at the Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple at Malakonda which opens only on Saturdays. Both were not informed about the accident till the marriage was solemnised. A pall of gloom descended on Chevuru village as both the families and their friends were engrossed in making funeral arrangements after completing post-mortem.
Prasanna, who was injured, wept inconsolably at the government hospital at Kandukur as she lost her two daughters aged 10 and 12 and also her son aged seven.
Minister gheraoed
Friends and relatives of the victims joined by activists of the Communist Party of India(Marxist) gheraoed Transport Minister Sidda Raghava and demanded an ex gratia of Rs. 10 lakh each to the next of kin, dissatisfied with the Rs. 2 lakh announced by the Minister after consoling the bereaved families.
