4 Ayyappa devotees dead,16 hurt in mishap

PNS|GUNTUR

Four Swamy Ayyappa devotees were killed and 16 injured, three of them critically when the van in which they were travelling rammed a tree at Jampani village in Vemuru mandal of Bapatla district in the wee hours of Monday.

Police said that a group of 23 Swamy Ayyappa devotees went to the hill shrine Sabarimala in Kerala. They returned from the shrine in a train and alighted at Tenali railway station and took a van to reach their native village Nilapudi in Pedana mandal of Krishna district.

The incident was caused due to poor visibility on account of fog. Four passengers were killed instantaneously while 16 others, who sustained injuries, were admitted to the GGH in Tenali where the condition of three of them is said to be critical. However, three devotees escaped unhurt in the mishap.

The deceased were identified as Bolishetti Panduranga Rao (40), Pasham Ramesh (55), Bodhina Ramesh (55), and Buddana Pawan Kumar (25).

Minister for Civil Supplies Jogi Ramesh visited the injured persons in the hospital and consoled the bereaved families. He told the media that Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy had announced Rs 5 lakh ex gratia to the four families of the deceased and Rs 50,000 to each of the injured.

The Minister enquired with the doctors about the condition of the seriously injured patients and directed them to provide the best medical treatment to them.