9 labourers killed as tractor plunges into irrigation canal in Telangana

A tractor carrying agricultural labourers plunged into a canal in Telangana’s Nalgonda district on Friday morning, killing at least nine people, the police said.

There were around 30 labourers, all tribals, in the tractor carrying them from a tribal hamlet Padamati Tanda to Pulicherla, where they were supposed to harvest a crop of chilli.

The driver of the tractor lost control over the steering as they reached Vaddipatla village of Pedda Adiserla Palli block and the vehicle fell into the irrigation canal of Alimineti Madhava Reddy project.

Preliminary inquiries revealed that the driver was speaking on his mobile phone while negotiating a turn and lost control of the vehicle.

Nine bodies have been fished out of the deep waters of the canal and 15 others were rescued by the local villagers, who rushed to the spot after the accident.

The dead have been identified as Ramavath Sona (70), Ramavath Jeeza (65), Jarulula Dwali (30), Ramavath Keli (50), Ramavath Lakshmi (50) Ramavath Kamsli (50), Banavath Beri (55), Ramavath Bharati (36), Ramavath Sunitha (30).

“Rescue operations are on for the missing persons, including two children,” Nalgonda police said.

India witnessed 17 deaths and 55 road accidents every hour in 2016, one of the highest in the world, according to the Union road transport and highways ministry.

The ministry said in its report that over-speeding and talking on mobile phone while driving were two of the main factors that caused the maximum number of road accident and deaths.