Two Telangana bus drivers die in accident

VIJAYAWADA: Two TSRTC bus drivers died and eight passengers suffered injuries in a road mishap at Thotacherla village of Penuganchiprolu mandal in Krishna district on Tuesday morning.

According to Penuganchiprolu police, a TSRTC bus from Nirmal in Telangana state was on its way to Ongole, when the accident happened at around 4:30 a.m. The driver who was sleepy lost control over the bus, which was reportedly over the speed limit. The vehicle after cartwheeling three times fell into roadside fields.

The driver and the spare driver got thrown into the bus windshield and died on the spot. The deceased were identified as Ghulam Rasool (39) and Erabothu Tirupati (42). Bodies were shifted to Nandigama government hospital for postmortem. The injured were shifted to Nandigama first and later to Vijayawada for better treatment.

Passenger blamed rash driving as a reason for the mishap. “The bus driver was driving rashly despite our appeal to go slow,” said a woman passenger, whose husband suffered a leg fracture. Another passenger said the driver was not only driving over speed but was also frequently applying brakes. The police have registered a case and investigation is on.