Visakhapatnam family of four killed in a tragic road accident near Tirupati

In an unfortunate incident, a family of four from Visakhapatnam were killed in a road accident near Tirupati while travelling in a cab. The driver of the car, hailing from Tirupati, has survived with serious injuries. This accident took place on 18 February 2022 when the car in which they are travelling collided with a lorry.

The victims of the road accident, which took place near Tirupati, were identified as Sunil Kumar (30), Swathi (25), Prem Kumar (22), and Shyam Arthana (1) from Sundaraiah Nagar, Gajuwaka, Visakhapatnam. According to the Chandragiri police, the family were on their way to the Golden Temple in Vellore, Tamil Nadu, from Tirupati. The accident took place at Ithepalle Junction on the outskirts of Chandragiri. This road is prone to accidents as it is frequented by many heavy vehicles. The Puthalapattu Naidupeta National Highway 12 (NH12), a 15 km stretch, is the road to many famous pilgrimages such as Golden Temple (Vellore), Arunachalam, and Kanchipuram. There is an urgent need of widening the highway in view of keeping the safety of the commuters.

The car driver, who was following a lorry, allegedly tried to overtake it at high speed but collided with its rear. The impact was so bad that the car’s roof was blasted off and its occupants were crushed beneath the mangled steel. Upon receiving information about the incident, Chandragiri Police had immediately arrived and transported the seriously injured driver to Tirupati’s Sri Venkateswara Ramnarayan Ruia (SVRR) Government General Hospital. The police had a difficult time extracting the bodies of the victims from the wrecked vehicle, even though the locals of that area were helping. It had taken several hours to identify the deceased and notify their relatives in Visakhapatnam, as there were no survivors in the family and the driver was in critical condition.