Afive-month-old infant was among four members of a family who were killed when their car rammed a stationary tipper near Korutla town in Jagtial district on Sunday night.
The victims are Gudikandula Ramadevi (28), her two children Serisha (02) and five-month-old son Charan from Korutla and her sister-in-law Lalitha (35) from Mallapur.
Three others of the family, including driver Gudikandula Srinivas, his son Srujan (18) and daughter Shruthi (16), suffered severe injuries. Srujan’s condition is said to be critical.
District Superintendent of Police Sindhu Sarma said that the accident took place around 9.50 p.m. when the victims were returning from Jagtial bus stand after sending off Ramadevi’s husband Chandramohan to Hyderabad. A migrant labourer, Chandramohan was scheduled to take a flight to UAE from Rajiv Gandhi International Airport on Monday.
When the ill-fated car reached Gumlapur village, Srinivas, who was behind the wheels failed to notice the tipper, which broke down due to tyre burst and rammed it from behind, Ms. Sarma told The Hindu .
The impact of the crash was such that Srinivas’s wife Lalitha died on the spot, while Ramadevi and her daughter Serisha succumbed in Government Hospital, Jagtial. Her newborn son died while he was being taken to Karimanagar for better treatment, the SP said.
“As the tipper broke down on the main road, the driver turned on the parking lights and indicators to caution other vehicles moving in the same directions, while he and the cleaner were changing the tyre,” Ms. Sarma said.
Soon after he came to know about the crash, Chandramohan rushed to Jagtial hospital.
Police suspect that Srinivas was under the influence of alcohol as they found alcohol bottles in the car. “His blood samples were drawn for testing,” police said.
