In a freak mishap, at least five people died and a few others were injured after an auto rickshaw slammed into an electric pole in Andhra Pradesh's Visakhapatnam district on Sunday. The accident took place near Cheruvuru in Chintapalle Mandal. The police suspect that overcrowding of the vehicle may have led to the accident as over 10 people were on board the auto, which was on its way to Chintapalle town.
“The auto was travelling from the Korukonda weekly market to Cheruvuru. It was raining and the driver lost control of the overloaded vehicle. Subsequently, the vehicle hit the electric pole,” Chintapalle inspector K. Sridhar was quoted as saying.
As the vehicle hit the pole, some people were flung out of the auto while others were charred to death on the spot after an overhead cable snapped due to the impact of the accident. The passengers were rushed to the closest Primary Healthcare Centre (PHC) and later referred to the Narsipatnam Area Hospital.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy also took note of the incident and expressed his condolences to the families of the deceased. In a statement, he also assured them of support from the state government.
In February this year, another freak accident had taken place in the district when a lorry mowed down three students aged between 18 and 20 years near Dharmavaram village. At the time, the police said that the students, who were triple riding, were travelling from Yelamanchili to Dharmavaram and were taking a U turn on the highway, when the speeding lorry travelling from Tuni to Visakhapatnam hit them.
The police said that the impact was such that the motorbike and the students were dragged along with the lorry, with one of the students being dragged a total of 3 km along with the bike before the Highway Patrol police who had been notified by locals about the incident, managed to stop the lorry.
