14 farm labourers, including 9 women, die in accident in Telangana

Fourteen persons, including nine women, were killed and two others were injured, when a truck rammed into an auto rickshaw which they were travelling in at Kothapalli village of Midgil block in Telangana’s Mahabubnagar district on Sunday evening, the police said.

While 12 persons died on the spot, two others succumbed in the hospital.

The condition of two others admitted at Mahabubnagar government hospital is said to be critical. “All the victims were agricultural workers belonging to Gogya Thanda, a hamlet of Kothapalli. They were returning to their hamlet after completing their day’s work at Vadiyal village a few kilometres away,” a police official belonging to Midgil police station said.

The police said there were in all 16 passengers in the auto rickshaw, when the accident took place. “The truck travelling from Jadcherla to Kodad in Suryapet district was coming at a high speed and lost the control, before ramming into the auto rickshaw coming in the opposite direction. The bodies were badly mutilated beyond recognition,” the police said. The local villagers told the police that the road between Jadcherla and Kalwakurthy passing through Kothapalli village was badly damaged due to rains lashing the area for the last few days and had been prone to accidents.

Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao expressed shock over the incident and conveyed his heartfelt sympathies to the family members. Tourism minister V Srinivas Goud and Jadcherla MLA Lakshma Reddy rushed to the accident spot to get the first hand information.