Five medical students of Osmania Medical College (OMC), Hyderabad, and the bus driver were killed on the spot in a road accident near Vijayawada on Monday midnight.
The mishap occurred in the midnight when the private bus carrying 46 students hit a roadside tree and overturned at a high speed near Surampalem village on Vijayawada outskirts. The locals helped the students in shifting the victims to the nearby private hospital.
The deceased have been identified as – G. Lakshman of Tandur; Pranay, a native of Saroornagar, Hyderabad; Uday of Karimnagar district; M. Vijay Teja, native of Qutubullapur; and Vijay Krishna of Ranga Reddy district of Telangana. The details of the bus driver, who was killed in the accident, was not yet known.
The students of the government-run Osmania Medical College were returning to Hyderabad after participating in a sports tournament when the accident took place. Survivors of the accident said that earlier, when they asked the driver to slow down, he drunkenly argued with them.
Vishwaroop, one of the students on board, had reportedly called the travel agency that supplied the bus and complained about the rash driving. The agency had promised to change the driver at Vijayawada, he alleged.
Earlier, the cleaner of the bus had disembarked after students accused him of trying to steal the laptop and purse of one of their classmate.
Injured students have been admitted to a private hospital in Vijayawada; some are reported in critical condition.
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao has ordered officials to ensure best possible treatment to the injured students and shift them to Hyderabad for treatment, if required.
Two students given ventilator support
Senior pulmonologist M. Ravindranath of Andhra Hospital in Bhavanipuram, who attended on the victims, said the condition of Rajesh is very serious and the condition of another student Sujit who is also on ventilator is better. “He will pull through,” he said.
The condition of seven students under going treatment in the intensive care ward is said to be stable. One student has a collar bone frature, another has a knee cap fracture and yet another has multiple cuts on the face,” Dr, Ravindranth said.
Six students who have received minor injuries are in a state of shock are being treated in the general ward. Three students who suffered minor cuts were treated out-patient and discharged.