Driver negligence led to fatal pile-up on Guntur NH, say police

 

The negligence of a driver caused the deaths of three passengers near Pedakakani on the Chennai-Kolkata national highway near Guntur on Monday night, according to the police.

Apart from the three deceased passengers, six persons suffered grievous injuries, of which one is in a critical condition.

“The driver of a truck carrying concrete mix was responsible for the accident in which four vehicles collided one after another on the highway,” Pedakakani Circle Inspector Veera Swamy told The Hindu.

The truck driver, who was driving towards Guntur, took a sudden U-turn after one of the vehicle’s tyres suffered a puncture. The truck swerved right into the lane of a fast-moving car and an auto-rickshaw, which crashed into each other leading to the deaths. The truck driver escaped from the scene of the accident, but we seized the truck,” Mr. Veera Swamy said.

Of the three deceased, one person hails from Perecharla village in Medikonduru mandal, while the other two hailed from Guntur city.

Police said that there were eight passengers in the auto-rickshaw and five passengers in the car. Out of the eight passengers in the auto-rickshaw, three were killed while one is in a critical condition. Two persons suffered leg fractures. Of the five in the car, two people suffered leg fractures while the rest suffered minor injuries.

All the injured persons were admitted to the Guntur Government General Hospital, police said.

Meanwhile, a man riding pillion on a two-wheeler was killed in an unrelated accident that occurred just a kilometre away from the spot where the previous accident occurred. The incident occurred after the two-wheeler rider lost balance and hit the divider, resulting in the death of Lakshminarayana, 23, a mechanic from Guntur.

Police said they are investigating both accidents that left four people dead on the highway in a span of less than four hours, and added that a hunt is on for the truck driver and two-wheeler rider.

TDP MLA Mohammed Naseer Ahmed interacted with the accident survivors and wished them a speedy recovery.