Tirupati: At least five persons went missing when an autorickshaw, carrying 12 people, fell off a bridge and drowned in the Beeraperu stream after it was hit by a speeding truck in Sangam mandal of Nellore district on Thursday night.
Search and rescue operations were launched, but till reports last came in, police had rescued seven out of 12 persons and were yet to trace the missing persons.
According to the reports reaching here, the rescued persons were identified as Nandu, Naga Sai, Naga Bhushanam (auto driver), Lakshmi Devi, Krishna Kumari, Navdeep and Nagavalli.
“While the condition of a girl, Nagavalli, is said to be critical, a rescue operation is underway to trace the missing persons, Sampoorna, Karra Pullaiah, Karra Nagaraju, D. Ademma and Padma, who went missing in the stream. Police and fire personnel along with local fishermen and ace swimmers were deployed to trace the missing people”, a senior police official said.
According to the police, the 12 people who met with the accident were relatives, hailing from Jyothi Nagar in Atmakur town. They were going to the Sangameswara temple in Sangam town on Thursday night when the mishap occurred. The group has planned to stay at the temple overnight to observe Jagran, following the 11th day ritual of one of their family members, who died recently.
“The incident occurred at around 9.30 PM on the bridge over the Beeraperu stream near Sangam when they were going to the temple. The speeding truck and the autorickshaw travelling in opposite directions collided hard and the impact of the collision caused the autorickshaw to crash through the railing of the bridge and fall into the stream,” the police official said.
Local residents, who had witnessed the accident, immediately jumped into the stream and tried to rescue the inmates of the autorickshaw. In the meanwhile, the Sangam police, on learning about the incident, rushed to the spot and launched the rescue operation. “So far, we pulled out seven people, with the help of fire personnel, fishermen and local residents. Rescue operation is being continued to trace the missing persons. We also identified the truck and launched a search operation nab the truck driver, who was at large”, said a police official based at the district headquarters.
