Fifteen killed in wedding party bus crash in India

NEW DELHI: At least 15 members of a wedding party, including three children, were killed when a vehicle they were travelling in collided with a bus in southern India, injuring 25 people, police said yesterday. The accident occurred early yesterday when a truck carrying at least 40 wedding party members hit a passenger bus coming from the opposite direction in Prakasam district in Andhra Pradesh state.

“So far 15 people have been confirmed dead and around 25 are injured,” Prakasam police chief Srikanth, who goes by one name, told AFP over the phone. Srikanth said the truck caught fire after crashing into the moving bus, leaving many trapped inside the burning vehicle near Kandukur town some 350 kilometres (220 miles) from state capital Hyderabad.

Locals and emergency workers reached the spot to evacuate the trapped passengers and were moved to nearby hospitals for treatment. The officer could not immediately confirm whether the fatalities were caused due to the impact of the crash or subsequent fire, adding most of the dead and injured were family members.

India has some of the world’s deadliest roads with more than 230,000 fatalities annually, according to the World Health Organization.

Transport analysts attribute the huge number of accidents to poor roads, ill-trained drivers and reckless driving. The national government has put forward proposals for new legislation to make roads safer by stiffening lax traffic regulations. —AFP