Nine people were killed and 23 others injured when a bus fell off a ghat road and overturned in Andhra Pradesh’s Alluri Sitaramaraju district early Friday, police said. The bus, carrying 37 passengers including the driver and cleaner, was en route to Telangana. Six passengers escaped without injuries.
Superintendent of Police Amit Bardar said the accident occurred around 4:30 am on the Chintoor–Maredumilli ghat road near a Durga temple. “At least nine people were killed, and 23 were injured as the bus fell off the ghat road and turned turtle. Four of the injured are critical,” Bardar told PTI.
Preliminary reports suggest the driver may have missed a curve due to heavy fog. The bus plunged from an upper stretch of the ghat road and landed upside down on a lower road near the China Wall, a structure built to prevent such falls.
Police said they do not expect the death toll to rise, noting that the four critically injured are “doing okay”. The passengers were from the Chittoor region and had completed a trip to Araku. They were on their way to the Sri Rama temple in Bhadrachalam, Telangana.
A case has been registered at Mothugudem police station under Section 106 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for rash and negligent driving.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu expressed deep anguish over the tragedy and spoke with officials to review the medical care being provided. Injured passengers have been shifted to Chinturu and other nearby hospitals for treatment.
