SANGAREDDY: The road accident near Satwar in Zaheerabad mandal on Tuesday night has raised serious questions over officials’ claims that strict measures are being taken to ensure ambulances reach crash sites within ten minutes. Eyewitnesses said no emergency assistance arrived for nearly 40 minutes after the accident, which claimed six lives, despite repeated calls for an ambulance.
They said the bodies of migrant labourers lay scattered on the road while the injured cried out for help.
Raju Shetkar, an eyewitness, said he was passing along the same road when the accident occurred and immediately called 100 and 102, but received no response.
According to eyewitnesses, the accident took place when an auto-rickshaw driver made a U-turn after refuelling at a petrol pump near Satwar to return to their native village of Rajigiri in Karnataka. A speeding tanker reportedly rammed the auto-rickshaw from behind. Witnesses said they were horrified to see the dead and injured lying on the road. After repeated attempts to get an ambulance failed, Shetkar contacted Chiragpally police, who reached the spot promptly.
With no ambulance available, locals used auto-rickshaws and private cars to transport the injured. Police officers also used their own vehicles to rush those awaiting medical attention to government hospitals in Bidar and Zaheerabad. Five workers died at the scene, while another died during treatment. Police said the auto driver and his wife were also among the deceased.
Officials, when asked about the ambulance delay, said only one ambulance was available at Zaheerabad Government Hospital. Before this accident, it had been sent to another crash site near Kohir, where two people had died.
The accident has renewed criticism that authorities are failing to take adequate preventive measures despite frequent crashes on the national highway claiming dozens of lives. Locals have urged officials to identify accident-prone black spots and take immediate steps to prevent further loss of life.
Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and District Minister Damodar Raja Narasimha expressed shock over the accident. District Collector Prateek Jain and SP Paritosh Pankaj visited the accident site and the hospital on Tuesday night. Postmortem examinations were conducted on the bodies of the victims and their bodies were shifted to their native villages. Former minister T Harish Rao urged the government to announce financial help for the families of those who died in the accident.