Three people were killed in a horrific road accident after two trucks collided and caught fire on National Highway 16 in Andhra Pradesh's Palnadu district early Wednesday morning, police said.
The drivers of both trucks and the cleaner of one of the vehicles were among the victims. The charred bodies of those vehicles were recovered after a nearly five-hour search operation.
Accident Triggered when avoiding a Stationary Truck.
According to the police, the accident happened near Boyapalem, on the border of Palnadu and Guntur districts.
The truck transporting tiles from Kurnool to Machilipatnam was traveling along the highway when it encountered another truck that had broken down and was parked on the roadside.
The driver lost control of the vehicle when he tried to avoid the stationary vehicle. The truck struck the road divider before crashing into an oncoming truck carrying paper.
The force of the collision left the front part of both vehicles completely mangled and trapped the drivers and the cleaner inside their cabins.
Vehicles Engulfed in Flames
The collision caused a fire to quickly spread to both trucks, officials said.
Since one of the vehicles was loaded with paper, the flames raged quickly, engulfing both trucks within minutes and leaving the occupants with no chance to escape.
Police and firefighters rushed to the scene and extinguished the fire.
The bodies of the victims were recovered later by rescue workers from the burnt rubble.
Andhra Pradesh : Four burnt alive after colliding vehicles catch fire near Boyapalem in Palnadu. pic.twitter.com/xtdrLF8ZGW
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Victims Identified
Police identified Mekala Ravikumar, the driver of the tile-laden truck, Ramesh, its cleaner, and Dharmapathi, the driver of the paper-laden truck, who was from Karnataka.
The bodies have been moved to a government hospital for post-mortem examination.
Traffic Disrupted for Hours
There was a huge road traffic jam on the busy Kolkata-Chennai National Highway (NH-16), one of the country’s busiest transport corridors.
Police used cranes and earthmoving equipment to remove the burnt vehicles and clear the highway. Traffic was restored only after the damaged trucks were taken off the road.
Police Launch Investigation
Police have registered a case and are investigating what happened in this collision according to the event sequence.
At this stage, officials are looking at whether the stationary truck, speed, visibility, or driver error led to the fatal accident.
The incident is the latest in a series of deadly highway crashes, once again highlighting the dangers posed by stalled heavy vehicles and the need for quick road safety measures to be taken.
