15 dead as tipper rams auto in Telangana

The stone-laden truck collided with the autorickshaw; 13 members of a family among the dead.

ADILABAD,TELANGANA,15/05/2016:Relatives of the victims of Degam accident griving at the Bhainsa hospital in Adilabad district on Sunday.-Photo: S. Harpal Singh

In a horrific road accident in Adilabad district, a stone-laden tipper truck mowed down 15 passengers of an autorickshaw —13 of them from a single family — near Bhainsa town late on Saturday night.

Three other persons were injured. The victims who included seven children and five women, belonged to Ballar village of Nanded in Maharashtra.

Brick kiln workers

Eight of them worked at a brick kiln in Moulanatanda village in Navipet .

According to Rahul Bajekar, one of the injured who was shifted to Bhainsa hospital, the brick kiln workers had hired the autorickshaw to visit the Adelli Pochamma temple in Sarangapur, about 100 km away from Navipet.

The autorickshaw had barely travelled 25 km on the NH 222 when the accident took place as the tipper coming in the opposite direction collided head on, leaving 14 dead on the spot. One victim died later in hospital.

According to Mr. Bajekar, both the autorickshaw and the tipper swerved to the same side of the road intending to avoid a collision.

Thrown out of vehicle Two of the victims have been admitted to the Nizamabad hospital with severe injuries. They escaped death as they got thrown out of the auto in the collision.

Ex gratia Irrigation Minister T. Harish Rao visited the hospital and instructed the authorities to arrange for the funeral of the victims.

The Minister also announced an ex-gratia of Rs. 25,000 to each of the victims from the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti.