Nayakangudem fishermen turn saviours

A group of fishermen of Nayakangudem turned saviours for several bus passengers, who were trapped in the vehicle, after it nosedived into the roadside irrigation canal on the Khammam-Hyderabad highway, leaving 10 passengers dead in the small hours of Monday. Most of the deceased and injured are from East Godavari district

Local fishermen woke up on hearing a deafening noise after the ill-fated private bus carrying 26 passengers and three crew members including two drivers from Hyderabad to Kakinada plunged into the canal in the wee hours of the day.

In a virtual repeat of the bus mishap in which a 14-month-old baby died at the same spot in June this year, the private bus bound for Kakinada crashed into the makeshift barrier on the bridge across the Nagarjunasagar Project (NSP) left canal before falling into the irrigation channel, sources added.

While seven bus passengers died on the spot, other passengers got trapped inside the bus and screamed for help, said Rambabu, a local fisherman.

As an injured woman yelled for help, we smashed the windowpanes of the bus, partly submerged under water, and pulled out a one-year-old baby safely, said Ramesh, another fisherman.

The woman and 18 others including the two drivers of the bus survived with injuries, noted another local villager.