Eight killed, 33 injured as APSRTC bus is hit by two lorries near Chittoor

Tragic accident on Chittoor-Bengaluru highway leaves 8 dead, 33 injured; government announces compensation and medical support.

Eight persons were killed and 33 injured when an APSRTC bus was hit by two lorries, one after the other from front and rear, in the highly accident-prone Moghili Ghat section of the Chittoor-Bengaluru National Highway on Friday evening.

The deceased included two children and the RTC bus driver. The driver of the lorry that collided from the front was among the injured. Many of the bus passengers were from Bengaluru and its surrounding localities, the police said.

The bus, which belonged to the Alipiri depot of Tirupati, was en route to Bengaluru when the accident occurred. First head-on collision occurred with a lorry and immediately after it was rear-ended by another lorry. The bus suffered extensive damage in the accident, according to the police.

The Palamaner, Bangarupalem, and Chittoor police with the help of the motorists travelling on the National Highway rescued the passengers. The injured were shifted in four ambulances from Bangarupalem and Palamaner to the Government Area Hospital in Palamaner and subsequently to hospitals in Bengaluru and Vellore for better medical care.

District Collector Sumit Kumar and Superintendent of Police Manikanta Chandolu, who rushed to the accident spot, oversaw the relief operations. “As many as 33 persons were injured. While 25 of them were treated at the Government Hospital at Palamaner, the remaining are under critical care,” the Collector said.

All the bus passengers were reportedly pilgrims returning to Bengaluru after a visit to the Tirumala temple.

The police registered a case and took up investigation, besides initiating the process of identifying the deceased. The number of casualties could further go up, they said.