Hyderabad: The death toll in Saturday’s accident at Gajwel on the Rajiv Rahadari reached on Sunday. Bus passenger K. Rajireddy, 62, from Karimnagar district died on late Saturday night, while SUV driver Ettem Narsimhulu, 30, an RTC driver by profession at the Picket depot in Secunderabad, succumbed to his injuries on Sunday morning.
Two children travelling in the SUV and a woman passenger of the RTC bus are said to be in a critical condition. A total of 24 persons are undergoing treatment at various hospitals in the city. Nine persons died on the spot and two others succumbed to their injuries at hospitals
Siddipet police found that the RTC bus driver attempted to overtake the truck from the left, but hit it. The truck careened through a gap in the median and entered the opposite late, where it hit a container truck and an SUV carrying 18 persons. A police official noted that the toll would have been greater if the RTC bus had caught fire.
Police found from the passengers of the bus that the driver lost control immediately after the crash, and swerved to the left. The driver noticed a 2-metre deep pit just off the highway and swerved to the right again and applied brakes. This resulted in the bus overturning.
“Had the driver not noticed the pit and driven into it, there would have been more casualties, said ACP, Gajwel, Mahender. The passengers in the SUV belonged to the families of Gorla Lakshman Yadav and his brother-in-law Ettem Narsimhulu, 30. They had started from Jinnaram on Friday and reached Vemulawada in the night. After offering prayers, they started off the next day to Komuravelli.
