TIRUPATI: As many as five people including four Spanish nationals have died and two others were injured in a road mishap at Yetalavanka in Punganur mandal of Chittoor district on Saturday morning around 10 am.
A group of seven Spaniards working for Bathalapalli (Anantapur district) - based Rural Development Trust (RDT) were on their way to Pondichery, when the accident happened. A speeding truck going towards Madanapalli collided head-on with the tempo traveller van, the group from RDT was travelling in.
The force of the impact was such, that the entire front portion of the van was badly mangled and the victims got crushed. The injured were seen trying to retrieve the bodies from the wreckage.
Alerted by passersby, highway patrol rushed to the spot along with Punganoor police. Bodies were being shifted to the government hospital along with the injured.
The Spain Nationals have been identified as
1. Vicente Perez
2.Francisco Pedrosa
3. Josefa Moran
4. Nieves Lopez
and the fifth person is the driver of the vehicle.
Police are clearing the wreckage to restore normalcy on the highway. A case has been registered and investigation was underway.
Rural Development Trust (RDT), the NGO where the five Spaniards were working, is also known as Fundacion Vicente Ferrier. The NGO is mainly based in the Ananthapuram, Kurnoon and Srisailam districts of Andhra Pradesh and in a few places of Telengana. RDT, not only focuses on primary aspects such as sanitation and health but also underlying issues such as education, well-being of marginalised girls in rural societies and so on.