6 killed, 7 hurt in mishap

​Tirupati: In a gory accident involving a truck and a Tempo Traveller, at Kota cross about 14 km from here on Tuesday, six persons on board the Tempo Traveller were crushed to death while seven others in the vehicle sustained severe injuries.

The dead and the injured, who belonged to two families from Bengaluru were coming in the ill-fated vehicle to Tirumala for darshan of Lord Venkateswara. They started for the pilgrimage from their residence at Yelahanka locality in Bengaluru city at about 12.30 am and met with the accident when the vehicle reached the Kota cross on Puthalpattu-Naidupeta highway near Chandragiri town at about 6.30 am.

According to preliminary reports, the over-speeding Tempo Traveller crashed into a truck coming in the opposite direction. The impact of the crash was such that the Tempo got mangled and broke into pieces while the truck came to a halt on the field on the roadside after violently rolling down for a distance, on the other side of the road.

Six of the occupants died on the spot while another six were left grievously injured. Another passenger sustained minor injuries.The police along with the people residing in the vicinity who reached the area immediately after the mishap struggled hard for hours to retrieve the bodies and rescue the injured from the mangled vehicle.

The injured were admitted to SVRR government general hospital here where they are undergoing treatment. The truck driver who also sustained injuries in the mishap, is undergoing treatment.

The deceased were identified as tempo driver Kiran (32), Suresh (28) Parvathamma (45), Ramya (20) who was married two months back, Suja (27) and Gowramma (30). Based on the information from the injured, Chandragiri police informed the relatives about the accident. A case has been registered.