8 killed, 44 injured as bus falls into gorge in Andhra Pradesh

Eight people were killed and 44 injured when an over-speeding private bus lost control while negotiating a curve on a ghat road and fell into a valley at Bhakarapet in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh late on Saturday night, police said.

The victims, all relatives, belonged to Anantapuramu district and were on their way to Tirupati from Dharmavaram to attend a wedding engagement ceremony scheduled for Sunday morning, police added.

Over-speeding resulted in the accident, a senior police official said.

A journalist working in a vernacular newspaper was among those killed in the accident.

As it was pitch-dark, the rescue operation took a lot of time. Chittoor District Collector M Hari Narayanan rushed to the accident spot and supervised the rescue and relief operations.

Tirupati Urban SP Ch V Appala Naidu and a team of police personnel pulled out the injured persons using ropes and shifted them to RUIA hospital in Tirupati.

The bodies of the deceased were extricated in the early hours of Sunday and the post-mortem was conducted at RUIA hospital.

State Panchayat Raj Minister P R C Reddy, hailing from Chittoor district, visited the injured persons in the hospital and consoled them.

The Andhra Pradesh government announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 2 lakh each to the kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 each to the injured.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the deaths in the accident. "Pained by the loss of lives in a tragic bus accident in Chittoor, AP. Condolences to the bereaved families. I hope the injured recover soon," PM Modi tweeted.

The PM also announced ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each to the next of kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 each to those injured in the accident.

Governor Biswa Bhusan Harichandan, Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu, Jana Sena chief K Pawan Kalyan, state BJP vice-president S Vishnuvardhan Reddy, Pradesh Congress Committee president S Sailajanath and others expressed grief over the accident.

Pawan Kalyan asked the state government to increase safety measures at such accident-prone spots and prevent fatal mishaps.