At least 15 people were killed when a mini truck carrying a marriage party collided with a private bus and overturned in Prakasham district of Andhra Pradesh on Saturday morning, police said. 21 others were injured and admitted to a local hospital. Most of the victims were women and children.
District Superintendent of Police Ch Srikant said that all the victims were travelling in a mini truck. The accident occurred at around 7 am at Cherlapalem Village under Kandukuru mandal, 410 kms south of Hyderabad. About 45 people were travelling in the truck.
However the bride and the groom were safe as they were travelling in a separate car.
The bus belonging to Sri Krishna Travels was going from Hyderabad to Kandukuru and most of its passengers had got down at Pamarru. The mini turck was coming from Chevuru village near Kandukuru to Malakonda for a wedding ceremony at a temple.
“Both the vehicles were running at a high speed when they collided and fell into a ditch”, the SP said.
Bus caught fire after the accident and the fire brigade was called to put it out. Driver and three occupants of the bus remained safe. Investigations were on in to the cause of the fire.
CM NC Naidu and transport minister S Raghava Rao expressed their shock over the accident and condoled the death of the victims.