Janjivan Bureau / Hyderabad : .At least 54 people died and several others were injured as a Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) bus fell from a narrow road into a gorge at Kondagattu in Telangana’s Jagtyal district on Tuesday morning. The exact toll, however, is not clear as rescue and relief operations are still on.
The bus belonging to Jagtyal depot of the state-owned road transport corporation was on the way to Kondagattu carrying 87 pilgrims, when the mishap occurred. Senior officials have rushed to the spot and the bodies are being retrieved from the valley. Rescue workers are rushing the injured to nearby hospitals. The bus fell off Kondagattu Ghat Road while returning from Anjaneya Swamy temple atop Kondagattu Hills, about 190 km from Hyderabad.
The overloaded bus met with the accident when the driver reportedly lost control at a speed breaker.
The dead include five children, 32 women and 15 men. The driver, Srinivas, also died while taking treatment in a hospital.
The toll could go up as the condition of some of the injured was stated to be critical, Jagitial SP Sindhu Sharma told The Tribune.
Senior officials rushed to the scene and launched rescue and relief operations.
The injured were shifted to a government-run hospital in Jagtial. A few critically injured were shifted to hospitals in Karimnagar and Hyderabad.
Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao expressed shock over the accident. He announced Rs 5 lakh ex-gratia each for the families of the dead
