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Nine killed, 43 injured as bus falls into valley near Tirupati
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, too, expressed deep shock over the Bhakarapet mishap, which claimed nine lives.
Nine people were killed and 43 injured when a bus which they were travelling in plunged into a 100-ft valley on Seshachalam ghat road in Andhra Pradesh’s Chittoor district late on Saturday night, the police said.
The incident happened at around 9.30 pm at Bhakarapet on Sunday, about 36 kilometres from the pilgrim town of Tirupati. The victims include the driver and others belonging to a group of family and friends.
The deceased were identified as: Malisetty Gangappa (60), Malishetty Murali (45), Lakshmi Kanthamma (40), Malishetty Ganesh (40), Adinarayana Reddy (35), driver Rasool Nabi Basha (50), cleaner Shakeel (35) and Yashaswini (8). Another traveller who died in the hospital has been identified as Nagalakshmi (40).
Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy and Governor Biswabhushan Harichandan expressed shock over the death of nine people in the bus accident and conveyed condolences to the bereaved families.
The chief minister announced an ex gratia of ₹2 lakh to each of the kin of the deceased and another ₹50,000 to each of the injured. He assured that the injured would be given the best possible treatment.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, too, expressed deep shock over the Bhakarapet mishap, which claimed nine lives. He also announced an amount of ₹2 lakh to each of the kin of the deceased and conveyed condolences to the families of the victims.
According to Tirupati (urban) police superintendent of police Ch Venkata Appala Naidu, around 50 members of a family and friends from Dharmavaram were going to Tiruchanur, about five km from Tirupati town, in a private bus to attend an engagement ceremony of 28-year-old Malishetty Venu, scheduled on Sunday morning.
“After having their dinner at a dhaba at Pileru at around 9 pm, they left for their destination. After crossing Donakoti Gangamma temple on Bhakarapet ghat road on Seshachalam hills, the driver appeared to have lost control over the steering and the bus fell off the road and plunged into a deep valley,” a police official said.
Since it was late in the night and hardly any vehicles passed by the road, nobody noticed the accident for about an hour. “Moreover, there were no mobile signals deep in the valley to enable the survivors to communicate with the others,” the police said.
Late in the night, some travellers on the highway heard loud cries from the valley and alerted the Chandragiri police, who immediately rushed to the spot and took up the rescue operations. “Since it was a deep valley, the bus fell on the rocks and was badly mangled. Some of the inmates of the bus managed to come out of the bus with a lot of struggle, while others were crushed within the bus,” the police said.
Since it was pitch darkness and the valley was very deep, the police and the rescue team had to struggle a lot to bring out the survivors with the help of flood lights and torch lights.
“It took more than four hours to retrieve the bodies and rescue the survivors from the accident spot. We shifted the injured to Sri Venkateshwara Ramachandra Ruia Hospital at Tirupati,” the official said.
Special police forces from Tirupati and Chandragiri, along with fire personnel took part in the rescue operations. Apart from the SP, district collector M Harinarayana and other senior officials also rushed to the accident spot and supervised the rescue operations.
State minister for panchayat raj Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy called on the injured at SVRR Hospital and asked the doctors to extend the best possible treatment to them.
