Nalgonda (Telangana): The death toll rose to nine in a Telangana road accident involving women farm labourers, with two more succumbing while undergoing treatment, police said Friday. Police had said that six women farm workers were among seven people killed and over 10 injured when a jam-packed auto-rickshaw and a container truck collided head-on on a highway in the district Thursday. “Two more women died while undergoing treatment and 11 others are being treated in hospital,” a police official said. He added that conditions of three of the injured were very critical.
The official further said the truck driver who is now in custody was found to be in an inebriated condition when the incident happened.
The other deceased was the driver of the auto which was carrying 20 people. Except the driver, all of them were women farm labourers returning home from work, at the time of the mishap at Angadipeta, about 70 kms from here, on Hyderabad-Nagarjuna Sagar Highway.
The truck hit the auto while trying to overtake another vehicle resulting in a head-on collision.
Telengana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao expressed shock over the accident. He instructed the medical officers to give the best treatment to those injured and hospitalised, an official release said in Hyderabad. Rao also conveyed his condolences to the families of the dead.