TIRUPATI: Minutes after the gory road mishap which claimed 8 lives and left 45 injured took place on the Bhakrapet ghat road near Tirupati, it was the red sanders anti smuggling task force personnel who were undertaking combing operations inside the Seshachalam forests nearby, who were the first to reach the accident spot for the rescue of the survivors.
Being a blind region where connectivity and communication has always been a challenge, the task force personnel communicated to the Tirupati urban police about the gravity of the situation and passed on regular information in the initial hours.
The other good samaritans who reached the accident spot to lend a helping hand were a bunch of drivers who were all part of a WhatsApp group. A driver identified as Gautham posted details about the accident on his cab drivers' WhatsApp group. Immediately those who were available rushed to the accident spot and involved themselves in the rescue operations.
TTD's vigilance and security wing personnel led by CVSO Gopinath Jatti IPS, also rushed in to support the Tirupati urban police wing in the rescue operations.
After the initial hour of delay in passing out communication to the Tirupati urban police wing, the task force personnel and others who reached the spot first tried to communicate using their walky-talky sets and the urban police wing sleuths led by SP CH Venkata Appala Naidu ensured all the essentials required for the rescue operation were assembled and in place within the next one hour, which was very crucial for the rescue mission to go on smoothly.
While the Tirupati urban police wing received information at around 10.20-30 pm, about an hour after the accident, they reached the spot within the next one hour and the rescue operations went on till around 2 am on Sunday.
At first the Tirupati urban police wing shifted such victims who sustained injuries to the vital parts of their bodies, followed by women and children, to the SVRR government hospital, SVIMS and BIRRD hospitals in Tirupati.
While ambulances were not enough to shift such a large number of survivors, police shifted some of the victims in their own vehicles to the hospitals.
Several survivors who regained consciousness at the hospital thanked the police and others for coming to their rescue which saved their lives.
