The deceased were identified as bus driver Ramesh Babu from Penamaluru village and his helper Prasad from Vuyyur village, both in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh.
Two persons, including the driver and the helper of a state-run road transport corporation (RTC) bus were killed when it collided head-on with a private bus carrying Ayyappa devotees in Andhra Pradesh’s Chittoor district on Wednesday morning, the police said.
The deceased were identified as Ramesh Babu from Penamaluru village and his helper Prasad from Vuyyur village, both in Krishna district.
40 persons, including 35 Ayyappa devotees and the driver of the private bus, were injured in the mishap. They were immediately rushed to Sri Venkateshwara Ruia Hospital in Tirupati, where they were declared out of danger.
Chandragiri police inspector K Ramachandra Reddy said the luxury bus, run by the RTC, was going towards Kuppam from Vijayawada, when it collided with the private bus, which was approaching from the opposite direction at a high speed at Kasipenta village on Putalapattu-Naidupeta highway.
“The private bus was carrying around 40 Ayyappa Devotees from Sabarimala in Kerala to Telangana’s Nalgonda district. Preliminary inquiries suggest the driver of the private bus may have lost control over the steering and crashed into the RTC bus,” Reddy said.
Due to the impact of the collision, the driver and the helper of the RTC bus died instantly and several Ayyappa devotees got trapped between the seats. The police had a tough time extricating them.
Minister for transport Perni Venkatramaiah has ordered an inquiry into the accident and instructed the authorities to extend all medical facilities to the injured for their speedy recovery.
Prasanta Patnaik