Nine persons were killed in separate accidents reported from Kurnool and Praksam districts.
Pilgrimage proved tragic to a group of pensioners of Hyderabad when five retired employees were killed and two persons were severely injured when the SUV they were travelling in hit a median and overturned at Chagalamarri in Kurnool district in the early hours of Saturday.
Seven pensioners, residing in Nagarjuna Homes at Kukatpalli in Hyderabad, had gone on pilgrimage to Arunachalam and the Golden temple in Tamil Nadu and to Kanipakam and Tirumala in Chittoor district and were returning to Hyderabad when the accident took place.
While Subba Raju (52), Kanaka Raju (72), Ranga Raju (58) and Ramakrishna Raju (55) died on the spot, a severely injured Krishnam Raju succumbed to injuries in Kurnool General Hospital.
Two injured persons — Narasimha Murthy Raju and Ramamohan Raju — who were initially admitted to a hospital at Chagalamarri were rushed to Kurnool General Hospital on Saturday evening, according to police.
The Chagalamarri police have registered a case.
In the other accident, four persons were killed and another was injured when their car collided with a lorry at Bestavaripeta in Prakasam district late on Friday.
According to the police, the accident occurred when the driver of a lorry tried to overtake another lorry.
The deceased were identified as K. Narasimha Rao (30) from Repalle, Velagapudi Ramesh (48), Divi Venkata Anantasayanam Iyengar (47) and P. Pandurangaiah(35), all from Guntur, the police said.
The injured, P. Pandurangaiah from Nalgonda in Telangana, was rushed to a private hospital here, the police said.
