Nine killed, 23 injured as bus falls off ghat road in Andhra Pradesh
Chinturu (Andhra Pradesh) (PTI): Nine people were killed and 23 others injured after a bus fell off a ghat road and turned turtle here in Alluri Sitaramaraju district in the early hours of Friday, police said.
They said the bus, which was heading to neighbouring Telangana, was carrying 37 people, including the driver and the cleaner. Six of them are safe.
Superintendent of Police (SP) Amit Bardar said the accident occurred around 4.30 am on Chintoor-Maredumilli ghat road near a Durga temple.
"At least nine people were killed, and 23 were injured as the bus fell off the ghat road. It turned turtle... and got stuck," Bardar told PTI, adding that four of the injured are critical.
According to the officer, it is likely that the bus driver did not see a curve at the accident site due to heavy fog.
Police said the bus plunged from a higher ghat road and was lying upside down by a road located below. The accident occurred near the China Wall, which was built to prevent vehicles from plunging off the road. "We don't think the death toll will rise, and the four critically injured persons are doing okay," said a police official.
The SP noted that the bus was carrying people from Chittoor area, who had completed a visit to Araku and were proceeding to Sri Rama temple at Bhadrachalam in Telangana district.
Mothugudem police station booked a case under Section 106 (which deals with causing death by rash and negligent driving) of BNS. Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu expressed anguish over the accident.
The Chief Minister spoke to officials over the accident to enquire about the treatment being offered to the injured persons, said an official press release.
Officials informed Naidu that the injured persons were shifted to Chinturu hospital and other hospitals for better treatment.
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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
