Eight persons were killed and 15 others injured in three separate road accidents in Andhra Pradesh since Thursday night, police said. Four persons were killed and nine others injured when a Multi-Utility Vehicle rammed into a stationary lorry in Palnadu district early Friday.
The accident occurred near Macherla Nagaravanam when the vehicle hit the lorry parked by the roadside. Four people died on the spot, while nine others were injured. Police rushed to the spot and shifted the injured to the Government Hospital at Macherla.
Rescue workers had a tough time extricating the bodies from the mangled remains of the vehicle. A total of 13 people, including the driver, were travelling in the MUV. The victims belonged to the same family from Hyderabad. They were on their way to Pamuru to attend the funeral of their relative.
The deceased have been identified as Kadiri Venkateshwarlu, Kadiri Sharada, Pidugu Sharada and Satyanarayana. Macherla police registered a case and took up an investigation. The police were trying to ascertain if overspeeding led to the crash or the driver had dozed off.
In another accident in Annamayya district, three persons were killed, and six were injured in a collision between a car and an auto-rickshaw. The victims, belonging to the same family, were returning home in an auto-rickshaw after attending a local festival.
The deceased were identified as Mubarak, Mehreen Bi and Wahid. The injured were admitted to a government hospital. Meanwhile, a lorry driver was burnt alive in another accident in Anantapur district late Thursday night. The accident occurred near Budagavi in Uravakonda Mandal.
A granite lorry caught fire after it lost control, rammed into a tree, and overturned. The vehicle caught fire, trapping the lorry driver in the cabin. He was burnt alive while the cleaner managed to escape. In Hyderabad, two people were killed in a collision between a motorbike and a scooty.
The accident occurred on the AMB Flyover in the Kondapur area when the scooty was coming in the wrong direction. The deceased were identified as Srikanth and Vithal, who were riding the scooty. The man riding the bike sustained minor injuries.