Bengaluru: Congress MLA Venkatesh Naik and six other persons were killed when a lorry hit the Bengaluru-Nanded Express in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh on Monday morning.
DIG of Anantapur, K Satyanarayana, told sources that the incident took place in the early hours of Monday when a lorry carrying granite boulders hit the train at Madakasira railway gate and the granite boulder crashed against the first-class carriage of the train.
Four coaches (B-1, H1, S-1 and S-2) were also derailed derailed in the mishap, the South Western Railway said.
Four persons, including Congress MLA Venkatesh Naik from Deodurg in Raichur district of Karnataka, travelling in the train were killed on the spot, Satyanarayana said. Naik was also a former four-time Lok Sabha Member of Parliament.
The lorry sped onto the railway track despite the railway gate and the brakes of the trolley appeared to have failed, he said. The AC bogie was crushed and three sleeper coaches of the train derailed in the incident.
The driver of the lorry and its cleaner died in the tragedy, the senior police official said. Two persons sustained injuries and they were shifted to hospitals in Bangalore. Rescue work has been launched by railway officials and local police.
The Anantapur district is on the border Karnataka and is located around 350 kms from Hyderabad.
