Nandyal: Four persons died and two others sustained serious injuries in a ghastly road accident in the early hours of Friday on National Highway-40 near Nallagatla village in Allagadda mandal in the district. The tragedy occurred around 3 am when a car travelling from Tirupati to Hyderabad reportedly lost control, crossed the road divider and rammed into an oncoming private travels bus.

Police identified the deceased as Shravan (21), Gunderao Kulkarni (46), Itikadi Narasimhulu (30) and Siddappa (50), all residents of Nizampet in Hyderabad, originally hailing from Bidar district of Karnataka.

They were travelling in a Toyota Qualis car (AP09 AH 0667). Two other occupants of the car, Siddharth Kulkarni and Shiva Sai Kulkarni, sustained grievous injuries and were rushed to the Nandyal Government Hospital, where they are undergoing treatment. According to police, the private travels bus was going to Puducherry from Hyderabad at the time of the accident. None of the passengers on the bus was injured.

On receiving information, Allagadda DSP K Pramod, CI B V Ramana and SI Varaprasad rushed to the spot, regulated traffic on the busy highway and supervised rescue and relief operations. The bodies of the deceased were later sent for post-mortem examination. It is learnt that the victims were returning to Hyderabad after providing catering services at a function in Tirupati.

Meanwhile, roads and buildings minister B C Janardhan Reddy expressed deep shock over the incident, describing the loss of four lives as extremely unfortunate. He sought details from district officials, directed authorities to ensure the best possible medical care to the injured, conveyed his condolences to the bereaved families and appealed to motorists to exercise greater caution in view of the rising number of road accidents. Allagadda police have registered a case and an investigation is underway to ascertain the exact cause of the accident.