Vijayawada: As many as 35 passengers were injured, seven of them grievously, when a private bus overturned and fell into a ditch at Nawabpeta in Penuganchiprolu mandal of Krishna district in the early hours of Monday.
According to police, the bus, belonging to Hyderabad-based Ramana Travels, was on its way to Hyderabad from Yanam, overturned when it was negotiating a turn. Of the injured passengers, seven were children.
Police described the health condition of 11-year-old Mandapati Chinni from K. Gangavaram, East Godavari district was ‘worrisome’.
All the injured were initially rushed to a hospital in Nandigama. Later, 10 of them were shifted to the Government General Hospital, Vijayawada, for better treatment.
The bus, carrying 40 passengers, had started from Yanam at 6.30 pm and had reached Nawabpeta on NH-65, at 3 am.
At the time of the crash, all the passengers, along with the reserve driver and cleaner, were fast asleep. The passengers managed to exit the bus after breaking the pane of a window.
However, the driver of the bus, identified as Sk. Vali, was trapped by his leg in the mangled mass of steel, between the steering column and the clutch pedal. The rescue workers freed him after 2.5 hours of effort, using gas cutters.
Within minutes of the accident, the highway patrol reached the spot and helped the passengers evict the bus.
Receiving information from the highway patrol staff, NHAI staff, police, 108 and locals reached the spot and helped shift the injured to hospital.
Meanwhile, one of the passengers alleged that the driver was over-speeding. He said that the other passengers cautioned him to slow down, but the driver disregarded them.
According to police, Sk Vali had driven the bus from Yanam and the reserve driver would have taken the wheel at Suryapet.
Penuganchiprolu sub-inspector M. Naga Durga Rao stated that over-speeding appeared to be the reason behind the accident. He said that a case was registered and investigation is on.
Incidentally, on April 16, a bus belonging to Nirmal depot in Telangana state had overturned at Totacharla in Penuganchiprolu mandal.
In that mishap, two drivers had lost their life and eight passengers were grievously injured.
