Twenty-two members of one family, including nine women and seven children, died after an overladen pilgrim van crashed through the railings of a road bridge at the Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh and plunged 30 ft to the banks of the Godavari below.
The accident is said to have happened in the wee hours of Saturday morning.
But it was noticed only about three hours later when a morning walker on the bridge heard the cries of a blood-soaked young boy, the only survivor in the tragedy.
Boy only survivor
The seven-year-old boy, Eegala Kiran Sai, is undergoing treatment in Rajahmundry government hospital with head injuries. He is out of danger.
Twenty-two other members of the family, hailing from the village of Mosiahpeta in Atchyutapuram mandal in Visakhapatnam, perished in the accident, including a young girl who survived until the discovery of the accident but died on the way to hospital.
The bodies will be taken to the native village after post-mortem procedures at the Rajahmundry Government Hospital.
The ill-fated Toofan traveller van was being driven by the head of the Eegala family, Appa Rao (55), an experienced tour operator.
While authorise assess the theory that he may have dozed off at the wheel, local fishermen said he might have taken a speedy turn into a lookout point, mistaking it to lead on to the bridge.
The van crashed through the railing of the lookout point fell from a 30 ft height.
According to the police, CCTV footage at the Kalaparru toll gate in West Godavari district showed the van checking in at around 11.30 p.m. They surmise that it reached the Dowleswaram bridge at around 2.30 a.m..
Upon discovery of the stricken van on the banks of the river, local fishermen and police, led by Inspector A. Sivajiraju of the Dowleswaram police station found the victims slumped in the seats, crushed in the impact. “We found only two survivors, a 12-year-old girl and a boy. But the girl died on the way,” said head constable K. Ramakrishna.
Superintendent of Police Hari Krishna said that as the van directly hit the dry river bank, almost all the passengers’ sustained head injuries. Had there been water in the river or if the accident had been noticed earlier, we might have been able to save at least 5-10 people,” he said.
