Two agricultural labourers died and eight others were grievously injured when a goods van carrying 24 farming labourers from Akkannapalli in Tadipatri Mandal to a cotton field, fell on its side when the driver lost control over it at Chukkaluru early in the morning.
Tadipatri rural circle inspector of police V. Chinna Peddaiah said that the incident looked like a case of the driver dozing off at the steering wheel. The deceased have been identified as Kasindi, 35, the woman who died on the spot, and Lakshmi Devi, 32, who died while being treated at the Government General Hospital in Anantapur.
A third woman Alivelu, 40, too suffered serious injuries and was being shifted from Anantapur GGH to Kurnool Government General Hospital for better treatment.
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Yet another woman Prabhavathi was being treated in Anantapur GGH with critical injuries and her condition too was serious, the doctors said.
Five others were being treated in the general ward and were out of danger. Anantapur Revenue Divisional Officer Kurmanath met the victims and was making arrangements to send them to Kurnool for better treatment.
Meanwhile, when asked about the overloading of auto rickshaws and non-passenger vehicles, Superintendent of Police Fakkeerappa Kaginelli said that in recent days there were many accidents and the police on November 7 launched a special drive to check this on major roads in the district.
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Deputy Transport Commissioner N. Sivaram Prasad said that while carrying passengers in such camper vans was not allowed, some leniency was being shown if they were agriculture labourers or hamalis.