Seven people, including two women, were killed and nine others injured when a minibus which they were travelling in collided head on with a truck coming from the opposite direction on the Andhra Pradesh-Tamil Nadu national highway (NH-42) in Anantapur district in the early hours of Friday.
According to the police, the condition of three of the injured persons undergoing treatment at a local hospital is said to be critical.
The police said the accident took place at the Parakuvandlapalli crossroads in Tanakallu block. The minibus carrying around 20 passengers was travelling from Kukkanti to Kadiri and collided with a truck coming from the opposite direction at a high speed.
The survivors told the police that the accident took place due to the mistake of the minibus driver, who did not notice the speeding truck. The driver of the bus is absconding.
According to Tanakallu police, the injured passengers were shifted to the local hospital at Tanakallu. However, relatives of the injured alleged that there were no doctors at the hospital to attend to them. They blocked the highway in protest, resulting in a traffic jam for more than an hour.