Lorry Rams Stationary Tourist Bus On NH-44, Two Women Killed

Two women have died and two others seriously injured as a lorry hit a tourist bus that had stopped on NH-44 following a tyre puncture near Armoor on Thursday.

A group of devotees from Kinwat in Maharashtra’s Nanded district were travelling in two tourist buses to meet Chinna Jeeyar Swamy in Hyderabad. The first bus (TG 01 T 1864) suffered a tyre puncture near Govindpet bridge in Armoor mandal, following which the other bus (TG 21 T 2172) too was stopped on the highway.

While some passengers got down and sat on the road divider, a lorry (GT 27 TF 7482) approaching from behind apparently failed to notice the parked bus and hit it hard.

The impact pushed the tourist bus forward, causing it to run over the passengers standing on the divider. Two of them, Sujatha, 54, and Madhavi, 47, died on the spot. Two other passengers, Sunitha and Chittakka, suffered serious injuries and were shifted to a government hospital.

Police rushed to the spot and took up rescue operations. Traffic on the highway was disrupted for some time.

Police commissioner Sai Chaitanya inspected the accident site and sought details from police officials about the positioning of the vehicles and the circumstances leading to the collision.

The bodies were shifted to the government hospital for post-mortem examination.

Police issued a fresh advisory to motorists to exercise caution as vehicles are often stopped on national highways because of tyre puncture or mechanical failures. Drivers must switch on the hazard warning lights and place reflective warning indicators behind stationary vehicles.