Hyderabad---Twenty-two people including 10 women and six children died after a Force Motors ‘Toofan’ jeep they were travelling in rammed into the railing on Dowleshwaram Barrage and fell into the reservoir early today morning. 23 persons — all family members and relatives of Eegala Appa Rao of Achutapuram village near Vizag and his sons — were crammed inside the vehicle, besides the driver.
The sole survivor is a 10-year-old grandson of Appa Rao. Doweleswaram Barrage Circle Inspector K Sivajirao said that the vehicle must have been travelling at a very high speed because it knocked down three pillars and a section of the protective wall before falling into the barrage.
“We pulled out alive a boy and girl but the girl did not survive. Twenty two persons died—the entire families of Appa Rao, his two sons and relatives-have been wiped out in the accident,’’ Inspector Sivajirao said. The families were returning from a pilgrimage to Tirupati and other places and had left home nearly a week back in the hired vehicle.
INDIAN EXPRESS
