Sixteen farm labourers were suffocated to death and eight sustained injuries when a construction material-laden truck they were travelling in overturned in East Godavari district in the early hours today.
The mishap took place at Gandepalli village in East Godavari. The victims died of suffocation as they got buried under 'clinker material' which is used in construction work.
Some 35 people were travelling in the 12-tyre truck, East Godavari collector H Arun Kumar told PTI.
The truck "tilted and fell down", he said.
The victims, who worked on oil palm plantations, had boarded the truck in the neighbouring West Godavari district, he said. Carrying passengers in a truck is illegal.
The victims died due to suffocation as they got buried under the clinker material when the truck, which was coming from Dachepalli village in Guntur district, fell on the roadside, the collector said. Bodies of the deceased have been retrieved, he added.
The injured, admitted to a government hospital in Rajahmundry, were out of danger.
The driver apparently fell asleep and lost control, Kumar said, adding that both the driver and the cleaner ran off after the mishap. The driver later surrendered before the police.
Andhra Pradesh Finance Minister Y Ramakrishnudu, who hails from East Godavari, visited the spot and announced ex-gratia of Rs two lakh to the families of each deceased.
Noting that the government had undertaken several measures to prevent road accidents, he said such tragedies often happen due to over-speeding and the drivers not being alert.
"In this case, this vehicle is not involved in accident with any other vehicle. The vehicle itself tilted," he said.
Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Y S Jaganmohan Reddy and several other leaders expressed grief over the death of workers in the mishap.
