Eight killed, 32 hurt as private bus falls off from culvert

Vijayawada, Feb 28: Eight people were killed and 32 passengers injured, some of them seriously, when the private travels bus in which they were travelling fell from a culvert at Nandigama town, about 40 KM from here in the wee hours of today. Police said that seven persons were killed on the spot while another passenger died while being shifted to hospital. The injured passengers were shifted to Nandigama hospital and among them, 22 were referred to various hospitals as they suffered fractures and head injuries. The death toll may raise as the condition of seven passengers was said to be 'very critical'. The bus fell down from 20 feet high bridge on Vijayawada-Hyderabad express highway and struck between the two bridge culverts. The officials are still struggling to extricate five passengers, who were struck among seats in the ill-fated bus. Gas cutters were being used to cut the parts of bus. The ill-fated bus belonging to Diwakar travels, was on its way to Hyderabad from Bhubaneswar in Odisha. The injured passengers told media that the bus was going at a high speed when the mishap occurred. The driver of the bus might have dozed which led to the ghastly accident. Heart rending scenes were witnessed at the government hospital with dozens of passengers were seen with fractured legs and bleeding faces and they were unable to speak due to shock. MLA T Soumya visited the hospital and spoke with the doctors.