A newly-wed woman drowned to death after the car in which she was travelling in submerged in a railway underpass in Tirupati in the early hours of Saturday. The family was travelling from Karnataka’s Raichur and was en route to Tirupati for visiting the Lord Venkateswara temple.
The victim was identified as Sandhya. She was travelling with her entire family when the incident happened. The incident took place near the West Church on the MR Palli road. The driver seems to have misjudged the depth of the stagnated water. As the car began to submerge, the passengers managed to escape one after the other, but the bride was unable to make it out in time and she drowned in the water.
On receiving information, the police rushed to the location and helped in the rescue of the remaining passengers. Those who escaped were shifted to SVR Ruia Government General Hospital. A case has been registered and investigation is underway.
Hours later the water from the underpass was drained following which Tirupati MLA Bhumana Karunakar Reddy, Tirupati municipal corporation Mayor Dr Raacha Sirisha and other officials visited the location. Addressing the media, the MLA said, “The unfortunate incident happened after heavy rains that flooded the area in a span of half an hour stagnated under the railway underpass. A bride lost her life in the unfortunate incident. The driver’s wrong decision of driving through the flooded underpass resulted in the accident. The concerned officials have been instructed to take all necessary actions to ensure that a solution is found to the flooding problem. The height of the road will be increased and de-silting works will be carried out as soon as possible.”