Jagitial Bus Accident: Death Toll reaches 57, President, PM condoles

Hyderabad: In the worst-shocking ever tragic accident to hit the Road Transport Corporation from the time of undivided Andhra Pradesh, 57 persons, including four children and 30 women, died when a bus packed with 98 passengers plunged downhill into a valley near Shanivarpet village in Jagitial district on Tuesday.

Another 43 passengers who were injured, some of them seriously, have been shifted to various hospitals in Jagitial, Karimnagar and Hyderabad.

The 40-seater bus was taking a deep downhill curve in the last lap of the Kondagattu ghat section when the driver lost control over the wheel, resulting in the bus overturning several times on the hill slope, literally crushing many of the passengers in the process.

Sources said the driver, who was also among the dead, was taking the slope in neutral gear. When he applied brakes suddenly at a speed-breaker at the curve, passengers standing behind fell on him, leading to his losing control of the vehicle. The sheer number of passengers shifting their body weight to one side at the curve could also be a factor in the driver losing control, sources said.

President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Governor ESL Narasimhan, Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao and a host of important leaders have condoled the deaths in the bus accident near the famous Kondagattu temple in Jagtial district on Tuesday.

Chandrashekhar Rao, early in the afternoon, expressed shock at the ghastly accident and expressed deep condolences on the loss of lives in the accident and injuries suffered by the passengers and instructed officials to take immediate steps to provide the best possible medical care to the victims. He also announced a Rs 5 lakh ex gratia to each of the families that lost their beloved in the accident.