india

Updated: Sep 14, 2019 13:03 IST

Five people, including three children, were burnt alive and another person was grievously injured when the car which they were travelling overturned on the highway and caught fire in Andhra Pradesh’s Chittoor district on Saturday morning, the police said.

The deceased were identified as Jahnavi, Kala, Bhanu Teja, Pavan Ram and Sai Ashrita. Owner of the car Vishnu who was rescued from the burning car, is battling for life in the government hospital at Palamaner town.

The incident took place at Mamagudu village of Gangavaram block on Chittoor-Bengaluru national highway in the early morning.

According to Gangavaram police sub-inspector K Rajasekhar, Vishnu belonging to TMC Signal Colony at Gorlakunta area in the temple town of Tirupati, was travelling to Bengaluru in his car (registration number AP03 BN 7993), to drop his sister Kala and her son Bhanu Teja back at their residence in Bengaluru. Vishnu’s wife Jahnavi, son Pavan Ram and daughter Sai Ashrita also accompanied them in the car.

“As they reached Mamadugu, the speeding car overturned and fell off the highway into the adjacent bushes. Apparently, the fuel tank of the car exploded and within no time, the car was engulfed in flames. Some of the locals who noticed the accident rushed there and managed to bring Vishnu out of the car, but all the others were completely burnt,” the police official said.

On receiving the information, Gangavaram police rushed to the spot along with fire tenders, which brought the flames under control. They shifted the injured Vishnu to the hospital at Palamaner town. “His condition is serious. We are investigating the case,” the sub-inspector said