Five persons, including four Spanish nationals, were killed and nine other Spaniards received grievous injuries when the van in which they were travelling collided head-on with a speeding truck in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh on Saturday morning, officials said.
The accident took place around 10 am at Yetlavanka village of Punganur block, when a group of 13 Spaniards working for NGO Rural Development Trust -- based at Bathalapalli village in Anantapur district -- were travelling to Puducherry.
As they reached Yetlavanka village, a container lorry coming at high speed from the opposite direction lost control and rammed into their van.
The impact of the collision was so severe that the front portion of the van was completely crushed and the bodies were mutilated beyond recognition.
Passers-by immediately alerted police on highway patrol who managed to retrieve the bodies after a lot of effort.
Two Spanish nationals and the driver of the van died on the spot, while two others died en route to a hospital.
The nine injured were immediately rushed to Bengaluru in a special ambulance.
{{/usCountry}}The nine injured were immediately rushed to Bengaluru in a special ambulance.
{{/usCountry}}The four deceased were identified as Vicente Perez, Francisco Pedrosa, Joseph Moran and Nieves Lopez. The driver was yet to be identified.
Chittoor collector Pradyumna and superintendent of police Rajasekhar reached the spot to look into the rescue operations.