Vijayawada: A bus belonging to a travel agency owned by Telugu Desam MLA J.C. Prabhakar Reddy jumped off a bridge while at a speed of 110kmph on National Highway-65 killing 10 people and injuring 31 others.
The police has concluded that the driver fell asleep at the wheel and drove the bus into the rivulet. The incident happened near Mullapadu in Penuganchiprolu mandal in Krishna district at around 5.40 am on Tuesday when the passengers were asleep.
The bus was carrying 47 passengers and belongs to Diwakar Roadlines. It was on its way to Hyderabad from Bhubaneswar.
The bus hit a nine-inch-high road divider after crossing Nawabpet and plunged into a 22 ft deep rivulet in a narrow gap between two bridges. The bus was flung into the air after hitting the divider and landed in the gap between the two bridges.
The incident was observed by a passing truck driver who informed the police. Penuganchiprolu and Nandigama police teams rushed to the spot and undertook rescue operations.
Passengers were stuck inside the bus as the front part was mangled after the collision with the bridge and police had to use gas cutters to get the injured passengers out.
Bus was travelling at 90-120kmph
Eight passengers died on the spot, one at Nandigama Govern-ment Hospital and another at Andhra Hospital, Gollapudi. They included the driver of the bus and the cleaner.
Of the 43 passengers, 15 were from Srikakulam, 14 from Visakhapatnam, three from Tekkali, two from Brahmapur and nine from Bhubaneswar. Four people boarded the bus at Ibrahimpatnam. It took two hours to evacuate the injured and move them to Nandigama and Vijayawada government hospitals, Help Hospital and Andhra Hospital.
Deputy transport commissioner E. Meera Prasad said that the driver was speeding and probably drowsy. He estimates that the bus must have been travelling at 90-120kmph at the time of the incident. He said that as the divider was only nine inches high, the bus ran over it easily. One driver had driven from Bhubaneswar to Visakhapatnam. The second driver had taken over at around 10 pm in Vizag.
List of deceased
Nallabotu Krishna Reddy, 32, Kodandarampalem, Suryapet
Nallabotu Sekhar Reddy, 30, Kodandarampalem, Suryapet
Baladev Singh, 34, Bhubaneswar
Panga Tulasamma, Santabommali
Kota Madhusudhan Reddy, Hyderabad
S.K. Basha, Vijayawada
Vidyapati, 34, Odisha
Adinarayana, driver from Tadipatri
Pattamsetti Prudvi, cleaner from Guntur
Mohammad Tayyab, Musheerabad
