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Kerala: Three persons from Kozhikode killed in road accident on NH-44
Though it was initially suspected that the victims were migrant labourers, later the police found out that they were working for a school in Bihar’s Nawada town.
Three persons from Kozhikode in Kerala were killed and two others sustained injuries after a sports utility vehicle (SUV) they were travelling by collided with a stationary tipper truck on Hyderabad-Nagpur national highway (NH-44) in Telangana’s Nizamabad district in the early hours of Saturday, the police said.
The deceased were identified as Anesh (32), Stalin (21), and Analia (15). The injured – Divya (27) and Alekhya (5) – are undergoing treatment at a hospital in Nizamabad.
Though it was initially suspected that the victims were migrant labourers, later the police found out that they were working for a school in Bihar’s Nawada town.
“They belong to Kozhikode in Kerala. The victims, along with 10 other people, were returning to their native place in three vehicles because of the nationwide lockdown restrictions enforced to contain the spread of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak,” G Venkateshwarlu, the inspector of police, Dichpalli, told HT.
“The victims were travelling in an SUV at a high speed, when the driver lost control and rammed into a tipper truck at Mentrajpalli village under Dichpalli block at around 4 am on Saturday,” the inspector said.
“The tipper truck had met with an accident the previous day a few kilometres away and was being towed away by another vehicle. It came to a halt at Metrajpalli suddenly due to decoupling between the two vehicles. Even before the driver of the towing vehicle could get off, the SUV came at a high speed and rammed into the tipper from behind,” he added.
While Anesh, his daughter Analia, and Stalin, another school teacher, who was driving the vehicle, died on the spot, Anesh’s wife Divya and another daughter Alekhya, who were sleeping on the back seat, were injured in the accident.
“We’ve registered a case and a probe is being conducted,” Venkateshwarlu said.
In another separate accident on the same NH-44 a couple of hours later, 20 people were injured after a truck, carrying around 50 migrant labourers from Gorakhpur in eastern Uttar Pradesh, fell off the road into a gorge at Kondapur village of Nirmal district, the police said.
The condition of nine of the migrant labourers, who were returning to their native place from Hyderabad, is said to be serious.
The police said the accident occurred at around 6 am when the speeding lorry hit the railing on the left side of the national highway and fell into the adjacent gorge. The injured were admitted to the government hospital in Nirmal.
State endowments minister A Indrakaran Reddy, who belongs to Nirmal, visited the accident spot and supervised the rescue operations. He has assured the best possible treatment to the injured.
