Ten persons, including a man and his daughter besides three women, were killed and five others were grievously injured in a collision involving a Tata Ace vehicle and a tipper at Yellandu crossroads on the Yellandu-Kothagudem road near Kothagudem in the early hours of Sunday.
People travelling in the Tata Ace were heading to Bandirevu village in Dummugudem mandal to finalise a marriage alliance and also offer prayers at the temple town of Bhadrachalam.
Vehicles land in pit
According to the police, the tipper coming from Palvancha strayed onto the right side of the road and rammed the Tata Ace from the opposite direction near Lothuvagu bridge. It dragged the Tata Ace for over 100 yards and the two vehicles landed in a roadside pit. Eight occupants of the Tata Ace died on the spot, while two others succumbed to their wounds later.
The remaining injured passengers were shifted to the government area hospital in Kothagudem. The condition of one of them was stated to be critical. All the victims and injured persons hailed from poor families of Chennaraopet, Narasampet and Duggondi mandals in Warangal district. The accident victims were identified as Bairaboina Ravi, 45, a labourer of Chennaraopet mandal, his younger daughter B. Akila, 14, M. Iylamma, 60, P. Rajamma, 40, Veeramma, 35, Jangaliah, 60, G. Sadanandam, 60, Mallesh, 57, B. Buchaiah, 50, and V. Satyapal, the driver of the Tata Ace.
Bodies removed with cranes
B. Kavitha, wife of Ravi, survived with injuries.
The Singareni rescue team personnel retrieved the bodies of the victims from the mangled Tata Ace by using cranes.
“The ghastly mishap claimed the lives of several breadwinners of our relatives’ families as well as my own family,” said Kavitha with tears in her eyes. “They had accompanied us on our request to settle the marriage alliance of our elder daughter.”
“We had also planned to visit Bhadrachalam in the return direction, but fate willed otherwise,” said another injured person at the hospital. “We were left with no option but to travel in a vehicle originally meant for the transport of goods due to our poor financial condition,” said one of the injured persons.
