ANANTAPUR: Nine people, including the father of a newly wedded bride, were killed in a horrific road accident in the early hours of Sunday morning in Anantapur district.

As per reports, the deceased were returning to their native village at Uravakonda from Bellary in neighboring Karnataka after attending the wedding when a speeding lorry rammed into their SUV crushing them in the vehicle. The accident happened at Kottalapalli on the Anantapuramu-Bellary National Highway. The SUV was mangled badly that they had to bring in a JCB to extricate the bodies from the vehicle.

As per police reports the wedding party hailing from Nimbagallu in Urvakonda mandal , were returning from the wedding of Koka Venkatappa Naidu's only daughter named Prashanthi, which was held at Bellary in Karnataka on Sunday. Venkatappa was driving the vehicle. At Budagavi, their vehicle collided with a lorry laden with iron ore which was coming from Anantapur towards Bellary. The impact was so high that both vehicles were thrown onto the side of the highway. Along with Venkatappa Naidu who was said to be a local BJP leader, his relatives Saraswati (60), her son Ashok (35), daughter Swati (38), Swati's twin children Jahnavi (12), Jaswant (12), Radhamma (48) Subhadramma (60) and Shivamma (35) were killed in the accident. Police said the vehicle was speeding at hundred kilometers per hour at the time of the accident and overspeeding seemed to be the main cause of the accident. The driver could also have fallen asleep at the wheel. While the rest died on the spot, Venkatappa died while undergoing treatment in the hospital.The police have registered a case and have taken the lorry driver into custody and investigating the matter.

Anantapur District SP Dr K Fakkirappa, Guntakal DSP Narsingappa, and others rushed to the accident site to oversee the rescue operations. The bodies were shifted to Uravakonda Government Hospital for postmortem. Former MLA Vishweswara Reddy also came to the hospital mortuary and offered condolences to the families of the deceased. Anantapur YSRCP MP Talari Rangaiah also expressed condolences to the families of the deceased.

Meanwhile, a pall of gloom had set in the village of Nimbagallu after the news of the tragic accident was reported. The wedding party was to reach the village in the next half hour when the tragic accident occurred.

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