Two persons were killed and 28 others injured when a Chennai-bound private bus from Visakhapatnam overturned on the Chennai-Kolkata highway near Singarayakonda in Prakasam District in the wee hours of Wednesday.
The mishap occurred when hi-tech bus hit the divider and crossed over to the other side of the expressway and overturned at Kalikivaya at about 3.30 a.m., Singarayakonda Circle Inspector M. Bhima Naik said.
After two passengers got down at Ongole, the spare driver was at the wheels. All of a sudden, the bus wobbled before crossing the arterial road and falling into the adjacent fields, said one of the passengers who had a miraculous escape.
Passengers sitting on the left side escaped with minor injuries. The bus was travelling at a speed of over 100 kmph when the mishap occurred, another passenger who escaped unhurt, added.
While one Rajasekhar (35) from Visakhapatnamdied died on the spot, a six-year-old boy, Sai Kiran, also from the 'Steel city' succumbed to injuries at a corporate hospital here, added Singarayakonda Sub-Inspector K. Mallikarjun who oversaw the shifting of the injured to hospital.
While 15 of the injured were admitted to the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, the rest were being treated at a private hospital, they added. In all, 46 passengers were travelling by the ill-fated bus, District Special branch DSP Rayapatti Srinivas added.