Couple among 4 killed in 2 road accidents

PNS|Vijayawada

A couple and a 12-year-old boy were among four persons killed in two road accidents in Kadapa and Vizianagaram districts on Sunday. Three persons including a couple were killed when the auto-rickshaw in which they were travelling collided with a lorry at Chenna Reddy Palli in Muddanuru mandal on the Kadapa-Tadipatri highway in Kadapa district on Sunday.

CI Mohan Reddy said that the deceased Dastagiri (45) and his wife Saraswati (35) went to Kondapuram village in Dattapuram mandal. When they were going back to their native village Potladurthi in Yerraguntla mandal, their auto rickshaw collided with a lorry killing Dastagiri, Saraswati and auto-rickshaw driver Prem Kumar (32).

The couple died on the spot while the auto-rickshaw driver died while being taken to the GGH in Proddatur. CI Mohan Reddy and SI Chandramohan visited the scene of the accident, registered a case and shifted the bodies to the GGH for postmortem.

In another accident, an APSRTC bus ploughed through a crowd killing a 12-year-old boy at Dharmavaram village. SI Tarakeswara Rao said that the driver of the Vizainagaram bound RTC bus swooned while at the steering wheel resulting in he lost control of the bus which ploughed through a crowd killing Abhisekh (12) and injuring a woman.

The bus came to a halt after hitting a house located on the roadside. As many as 37 passengers were travelling in the bus when the mishap took place. The deceased Abhisekh was studying 7th Class. However, the passengers on the bus escaped unhurt.

The RTC bus driver RG Naidu was shifted to an Area hospital in Sungarapadu for treatment. It is learnt that the driver swooned earlier also. The villagers expressed anger over the RTC officials for taking the driver into duty knowing that he was suffering from swoons.

A pall of gloom descended on the family as the deceased Abhisekh was born after 12 years of marriage to the couple Govinda and Madhavi. RTC depot manager Ramesh visited the scene of the accident and conducted an inquiry. He said that the RTC bus was in good condition and a fitness certificate was issued only 15 days ago. He said that he did not know about the driver suffering from a swoon.