Bhubaneswar: A group of devotees from Telangana’s Jangaon district met with an accident while returning home after completing their pilgrimage to Shree Lord Jagannath Temple in Odisha’s Puri.
Two young men were killed on the spot, and three others suffered serious injuries in the collision between their car and a lorry in the early hours near Mittapalli village in Tallada mandal of Khammam district.
The deceased have been identified as Chillara Balakrishna (30), the driver of the car, and Rayala Anil (31), both hailing from Uppugallu village in Zaffergadh mandal. The injured, Ajay of Uppugallu, Kollipaka Kranthi and Gattu Rakesh, are receiving treatment at a government hospital in Khammam, with reports indicating their conditions are serious.
According to police, the accident occurred around 5,30 am on the Thallada-Kallur highway when the car, heading towards Tallada, was struck by lorry coming from the Kalluru side. The intense impact mangled the vehicle severely, trapping the occupants inside. Tallada Sub-Inspector Venkatesh and his team promptly arrived at the scene, conducting rescue operations to extricate the trapped victims. The bodies of the deceased were recovered and sent for post-mortem examination, while the injured were rushed to hospital, the TNIE reported.
While some reports suggest poor visibility due to thick fog and possible over-speeding by the lorry contributed to the head-on crash, police have registered a case and further investigation is underway to determine the exact cause.
