About five people were killed after a metal container carrying gelatin sticks attached to a vehicle exploded on the ghat road near Gummanthi village in Ananthaigir mandal of Alluri Sitharama Raju district on Saturday.
The blast occurred at Pinakota village during rock blasting for road expansion.
“A special device equipped with gelatin sticks was used for the blasting of rocks for the road expansion works on the ghat road. However, the equipment misfired during the explosion,” the police said.
A preliminary investigation showed that the incident occurred when the workers were filling diesel in the vehicle, triggering a fire and the explosion of the gelatin sticks.
The explosion damaged two vehicles.
The driver and three workers died in the accident. A teacher who was going in the opposite direction also lost his life,” a police officer said. The government school teacher was travelling to the school.
The deceased were identified as Sunitha, the teacher, Mani Narayana Rao, Pavan Kumar and one other person.
A rescue operation was launched by local revenue officials and police.
The exact cause of the explosion is under investigation.
Araku MLA Regam Matsyalingam expressed shock over the horrific accident. He urged the authorities to provide all possible support to the families on behalf of the government, conduct a full-scale investigation into the incident and take strict action against those responsible.
