In a shocking accident in Telangana’s Nizamabad district, an auto rickshaw fell into an open roadside well, killing 11 people, including 6 children. The incident took place between Mupkal and Mendora on Sunday afternoon, The Hindu reported.
The driver, who survived the accident, has been taken into police custody. The auto rickshaw allegedly had 19 people on board, eight of whom survived, the local media reported.
The Nizamabad police, who were alerted by passers-by, had to use a crane to pull people out of the well. Preliminary reports suggest that rash and negligent driving were the reason behind the horrific accident.
Of the 11 victims, four belong to the same family. In fact, all of the victims hail from neighbouring areas of Nizamabad district.
The deceased have been identified as B Raju, B Sayamma (50), M Laxmi (38), Gangavva (41), Gangamani (45), P Sampath (14), Sumalath (30), M Vinayasri (6), Manasivini (3), Teddu Roja (27) and Teddu Chinni (18 months old).
Nizamabad CP Karthikeya and Collector Ram Mohan along with other revenue authorities supervised the rescue operations. The bodies were shifted to Armoor Government Hospital for the post-mortem.
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekar Rao and Minister for Agriculture Pocharam Srinivas Reddy have expressed their grief over the incident
Lack of road safety measures
With rash driving seems to be the primary cause for the mishap, lapses in implementing road safety standards is apparently fast becoming the reason behind the frequent accidents in this region. A TNIE report said that despite knowing that the route is frequented by private vehicles, officials have failed to identify accident-prone areas and have not put up signs or indicators to ask people to be more alert here.