By IANS,
Hyderabad : Four people were killed and 31 went missing Sunday after a truck carrying them was washed away in flood waters in Andhra Pradesh’s Guntur district.
The police said they recovered four bodies. Over 40 people were travelling in the truck, which was caught in swirling waters of a stream while trying to cross it.
The mishap took place in Madduru Vagu near Narkulapadu in Amravati mandal of Guntur district, about 20 km from Guntur town and 300 km from here.
The missing people, including 10 women and five children, were feared washed away in the flood waters. The survivors told the police that the driver tried to cross the stream despite their warning. The driver, who swam to safety, fled the scene.
The police said some trucks were carrying people to villages on the other side of the stream as the state-owned Road Transport Corporation had stopped bus services as a precautionary measure in view of floods.
Many rivulets, streams and tanks in Guntur and nine other districts of the state were either overflowing or breached their banks due to heavy rains and flash floods, which have so far claimed over 50 lives since last Tuesday.