In a ghastly accident, the drivers of a bus and a lorry died on the spot, and 35 persons were injured when the vehicles collided at Devapatla village of Sambepalle mandal of Annamayya district in the early hours of Friday. The bus driver was identified as Venkata Narayana (38) of Proddatur town in Kadapa district, and the lorry driver was Suresh (35) from Vellore of Tamil Nadu.
According to the Rayachoti police, a private bus carrying 40 pilgrims from the combined Kadapa and Kurnool districts took off on Thursday morning at Prodattur of Kadapa district. It was on its way to Tamil Nadu when it was hit by a lorry from the opposite direction at the Rythu Bharosa Kendram point at Devapatla village.
As many as 35 passengers on the bus, including 10 women, were injured. They were rushed to the government hospital at Rayachoti. Later, 10 of them were shifted to the RIMS Hospital at Kadapa when their condition turned critical.
Deputy SP (Rayachoti) Mahaboob Basha said the police had to use JCB machines to cut open the mangled bus to rescue the passengers trapped inside. The four-hour-long operation had left traffic on the Piler-Rayachoti road jammed. A case was registered, and further investigation is on.
