One person died on the spot and 27 persons were injured, four of them grievously, when a passenger bus of SRS Travels proceeding from Nagpur to Bengaluru hit the crash guard on the National Highway No.44 near Mamillapalli village in the district and fell on its side in the early hours of Thursday.
There were 45 passengers on the bus at the time of the accident.
According to Kanaganapalli Sub-Inspector, S. Satya Narayana the deceased was identified as Kadiala Vatav, 25, a resident of Yelahanka in Bengaluru. The condition of four others, who were severely injured, was very critical, he said. All the four have been rushed to the Government General Hospital at Anantapur.
The driver of the long-distance bus seems to have dozed off between 5 a.m. and 5.30 a.m. near the RDT Guest House in Mamillapalli leading to the accident. The bus hit the two-foot poles erected as crashguards leading to the vehicle toppling over it and falling in the dry drain alongside the Highway five feet below.
Police immediately reached the spot and arranged ambulances to shift the injured to hospitals.
The helpline of the SRS Travels is - 92419-19191.
