ELURU: Six people including a two-year-old girl were killed, when the Scorpio they were travelling in fell into Kuntala Cheruvu, an irrigation tank outside Kovvali village of Denduluru mandal in West Godavari district on Thursday evening. A group of six women and two children were returning home to Malavalli village in Bapulapadu mandal of Krishna district after attending a family function when the allegedly drunk driver lost control of the vehicle while negotiating a curve and the Scorpio fell into the tank. As the doors of the vehicle got jammed, most of the passengers drowned. After some time, passersby saw the vehicle floating in the tank and immediately went for the rescue. All nine people were taken out of the tank. However, it was too late for six, including the two-year-old.
A middle-aged woman, her grandnephew and the driver who survived the accident, but suffered injuries, were rushed to the Eluru Government Hospital for treatment. The situation of the boy is reported to be serious. As ambulances did not reach on time, the injured were rushed to the hospital in an auto rickshaw.
The victims have been identified as Chinnala Vijayalakshmi (55), her daughter-in-law Chinnala Lakshmi Jagadeeswari Devi (25), Tanya Sri (2), Chinnala Lakshmi Nancharamma (55), Chinnala Sulochana (62), Chinnala Kumari. The bodies were sent to the government hospital for postmortem. Denduluru police have registered a case and took up investigation. Meanwhile, recalling the horrific incident in which her sister and other family members drowned, Kunapareddy Varalakshmi could not stop tears of grief. She said that the driver he appeared drunk and was driving the vehicle very fast.
Ambulance fails to turn up
Though their duty is to respond to any emergency and save lives, 108 vehicle operators in GGH, Eluru failed to attend calls from the accident spot in Kovvali village. It is learnt that the supervisor of 108 services had the two ambulances parked in the hospital, stating there was no fuel.