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6 die as tractor overturns in Chittoor district
The incident occurred at Lakshmaiah Vuru village of Puthalapattu block, when a group of 30 people belonging to a marriage party was returning from Balijapalle village of Irala block to Jettipalli village of Puthalapattu block.
Six persons, including two children, were killed and 22 others injured when a tractor which they were travelling in overturned and fell off the road into a ditch in Andhra Pradesh’s Chittoor district around midnight on Wednesday, police said.
The incident occurred at Lakshmaiah Vuru village of Puthalapattu block, when a group of 30 people belonging to a marriage party was returning from Balijapalle village of Irala block to Jettipalli village of Puthalapattu block.
The deceased were identified as A Surender Reddy (52) who was driving the tractor, Vasanthamma (50), K Reddamma (31), Teja Sri (25), Vinisha (3) and Deshika (2).
According to a police official from Puthalapattu police station, the marriage party, along with bridegroom Hemanth Kumar, was coming to Jettipalle for his marriage with Bhuvaneswari of Jettipalle village, which was scheduled on Thursday morning.
Quoting the survivors, the police said Surender Reddy, who was driving the tractor at a high speed, lost control of the steering at a steep curve on the road due to poor visibility. “The vehicle overturned as it fell off the road into a ditch on the road side. The people travelling in the trolley attached to the tractor fell over one another in the ditch,” the police official said.
Six of the inmates who fell deep into the ditch died of suffocation, while 22 others suffered injuries.
On receiving the information, the police rushed to the spot and launched a rescue operation with the help of locals. The injured were shifted to hospitals at Chittoor, Tirupati and Vellore.
Chittoor district collector Hari Narayana and superintendent of police Rishant Reddy visited the hospital at Chittoor and directed the medical authorities to provide best treatment to the injured.
