For 45-year-old Radha, the conductor who was in the bus that collided with a lorry on the Mirjaguda road, the Tandur–Hyderabad route was nothing new. Since 2010, she had followed the same rhythm — waking up before dawn, cooking for husband and two children, and heading out for her 4:40 a.m. shift. Monday was supposed to be no different, with two consecutive offs ahead.
By 4 a.m., she had packed lunch for herself and her niece Shravani in Langar Houz, something she did every week. Her son dropped her off at the Tandur bus depot, and when she realised she had forgotten her coat, he rushed back home to get it. Clad in a pink suit and khakhi overcoat, Radha boarded the ill-fated bus.
“After issuing tickets, I was sitting on the left side when I saw the lorry coming straight at us,” recalled Radha, now recovering at Dr. Patnam Mahender Reddy Institute of Medical Sciences (PMRIMS). “The driver swerved to the left, but before we could realise what was happening, there was gravel everywhere.”
She sustained a 10-centimetre-deep gash on the centre of her forehead, with gravel and concrete lodged in due to the collision. She required surgery and eight stitches.
45-year-old Radha, the conductor on the ill fated bus that collided with a tipper lorry in Chevella on Monday, while undergoing treatment at Dr. Patnam Mahender Reddy General Hospital in Chevella, Ranga Reddy district on Monday.
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NAGARA GOPAL
Her niece Shravani waited outside the operation theatre for hours clutching a food box Radha had prepared that morning. “Every Monday, she brings me what she calls ‘special food’, it’s our tradition. Today it was jowar roti and sabzi, which we don’t often find in the city,” Shravani said holding back tears.
At the Tandur bus depot that morning, Ms. Radha’s 19-year-old son had watched her leave, unaware of what the morning was holding for them. “I always drop mom off before college,” he said. “She asked me to bring her coat. I just want her to get better.”
Two hours into the same journey, Ashok Hanumanthu watched his world collapse. Him and his 44-year-old father, Magalla Hanumanthu, farmers from Nitoor village, were on their way to Hyderabad to see a doctor for his father’s ear ache. “When the crash happened, my father pushed me out,” Ashok said, his voice choking. “Before I could go back for him, gravel had entombed him.”
Family members of Hanumanthu at Chevella Community Health Centre (CHC), who died in the road accident on the Mirjaguda–Khanapur road near Chevella.
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NAGARA GOPAL
Among the survivors was 24-year-old R. Nandhini, a B. Pharmacy student from Vikarabad interning in Miyapur. She was the only one shifted to KIMS Hospital, Minister Road, for advanced treatment. “I don’t remember much,” she said from her hospital bed. “I remember there was a collision and a massive thud sound followed, the next I was in the hospital.”
One of the injured receives medical treatment at Dr. Patnam Mahender Reddy General Hospital in Chevella, Ranga Reddy district on Monday.
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NAGARA GOPAL
Her aunt, sitting beside her, said Nandhini had been rescued from under gravel that had reached her neck, with two bodies on either side.
Another survivor, 38-year-old Abdul Razak from Hassan Nagar in Shivarampally, a frequent traveller on the route, had boarded the bus at Vikarabad at 6:30 a.m. “The bus was overcrowded. I was standing when it happened,” he said. “The gravel came pouring in — up to my thighs. I was stuck for nearly an hour before they pulled me out with an earthmover.”
One of the injured receives medical treatment at Dr. Patnam Mahender Reddy General Hospital in Chevella, Ranga Reddy district on Monday.
| Photo Credit:
NAGARA GOPAL
He added, “The driver was speeding. Both the lorry and bus were going fast. It was morning, that’s when everyone rushed.”
The accident ripped apart families in seconds.
Three sisters, E. Nandhini, 22, E. Tanusha, 20, and E. Sai Priya, 18, daughters of Yellaiah Goud from Gandhinagar, Vikarabad, were killed together. They had returned home to celebrate their elder sister’s wedding and were heading back to Hyderabad to resume college life. Their father had dropped them off at the Tandur bus depot that morning, unaware it was their last meeting.
E. Nandhini, 22, E. Tanusha, 20, and E. Sai Priya, 18, daughters of Yellaiah Goud from Gandhinagar, Vikarabad, who died in the accident on Monday.
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By Arrangement
“They were so happy,” a relative said outside the hospital, holding back tears. “They had just danced at their sister’s wedding.”
Friends and relatives of E. Nandhini, E. Tanusha and E. Sai Priya, daughters of Yellaiah Goud from Gandhinagar, Vikarabad who died in the accident.
| Photo Credit:
NAGARA GOPAL
In another family, two young daughters were left orphaned. Kudugunta Bandeppa, 42 and his wife Lakshmi, 40, from Hajipur village, Vikarabad, were among those who perished in the crash. Outside the mortuary of the Government Area Hospital in Chevella, their daughters Bhavani, 9, and Shivalila, 17, cried out for their parents. “Bring mother back, I want her,” one of them wailed, her voice breaking through the silence that hung over the crowd.
Published – November 03, 2025 09:28 pm IST
