One devotee killed, 13 injured in separate mishaps

Tirupati: One devotee was killed and 13 others were injured in two separate road accidents in Chittoor district on Saturday. A A five-member pilgrim party from Rajapalayam near Madurai in Tamil Nadu was on its way to Tirumala in an SUV car. Their vehicle collided with an empty lorry at Rangampeta Cross near Puthalapattu on the busy Tirupati-Bangalore national highway, 55 km from here on Saturday noon. Jayaprakash (55) was killed on the spot, while four others of the family were injured. Two of them received serious injuries and all were rushed to the Government Hospital at Tirupati by 108 ambulance service. The police said that the driver of the SUV swerved to the extreme right and collided with the lorry, which was on its way to Puthalapattu. In another incident, a 10-member pilgrim party of Mahalakshmi Nagar of Madurai city had darshan of Lord Venkateswara on Saturday morning and was going down the Tirumala hills in a tempo traveler van. On the downward ghat road, due to brake failure the vehicle driver lost control and the vehicle fell into a pit near Vinayaka Swamy temple at 2 pm. A 12-year-old girl, Jahnavi had a fractured her left leg while a five-year old boy, Pranav, suffered shoulder joint fracture. Kalluswamy (36) received head injury while five others received minor injuries. All were rushed to the SVRR Hospital in Tirupati. The police registered cases in both incidents.