27 hurt in bus accident in Tirupati ghats

Tirupati, Nov 26: As many as 27 pilgrims were injured, 3 of them seriously, when their bus met with an accident on the second ghat road on Sunday, while they were going to Tirumala to have darshan of Lord Venkateswara at the hill shrine.

According to the traffic police, the driver of the Andhra Pradesh Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) bus lost control of the vehicle when he tried to negotiate a sharp curve on the second ghat road near the link road.

Due to speeding, the bus first crashed into the concrete structure built through the hill rock around the curve before coming to a halt. The sleuths of the vigilance wing and the police who learnt about the accident rushed to the spot and shifted the injured to the Tirupati Tirumala Devasthanam (TTD) run Aswini hospital at Tirumala and the 3 severely injured pilgrims were referred to a hospital in Tirupati.

Most of the pilgrims who received injuries were from various parts of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh and some were TTD staff.

Following the mishap, traffic in the ghat road came to a standstill for a while and later it was cleared after the traffic cops brought the situation under control.

Meanwhile, the traffic police stated that the driver of the RTC bus, who was identified as T. Sankaraiah, 49, had already made four trips between Tirumala and Tirupati since Saturday night and due to lack of rest he might have fallen asleep before the mishap.

Traffic sub-inspector Rajasekhar Reddy registered a case and further investigation is on.