Eight persons, including a 4-year-old girl, were killed when the vehicle in which they were travelling rammed a lorry cabin on the National Highway 5 at the Venkatachalam toll plaza in Nellore district in the early hours of Saturday.
Five others were injured and they were admitted to the DSR District Headquarters Hospital in Nellore. The condition of one of them was critical.
The victims were members of two families, who belonged to Rayachoti in Kadapa district, and were on their way to attend the Roti festival in Nellore city after visiting the nearby Kasumuru Dargah.
The police said that the accident took place at about 4.30 a.m. in the open clearance area at the toll plaza as the Tata Sumo Spacio coming towards Nellore skidded to right side before ploughing straight into the lorry which was heading towards Chennai after getting clearance at the plaza. The spot was within 200 metres of the toll plaza, which was free area without any divider.
Superintendent of Police P.V.S. Ramakrishna, who visited the spot, said that the driver, while overtaking one or two vehicles might have swerved to the right, and rammed the driver cabin of the lorry. The vehicle was going at a very high speed which indicated that the driver was drowsy, he said.
Six persons killed on the spot were identified as Balaraju (36), the Spacio driver, Shameer (4), Asan Vali (40), Sk. Darjar (27), Sk. Goshan Bi (40) and Sk. Mustafa (32). Two others who succumbed to injuries at the hospital were Sk. Kader Vali (45) and Sk. Safar (60).
Sk. Arifulla Khan, Shamsha Begum, Irfan, Noor Mohammad and Khader Basha sustained injuries. They were moved to the hospital with the help of the 108 ambulance.
