Date:08/10/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/10/08/stories/2007100853420300.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Rude shock for victim’s husband

Staff Reporter

One of the survivors blames the auto-rickshaw driver for the accident

— PHOTO: R. Biksham Ruther

Irreparable loss: An inconsolable Somaiah grieving over the death of his loved ones at Sarvaram in Nalgonda district on Sunday.

SARVARAM (NALGONDA): 23-year-old Buddha Somaiah’s joy knew no bounds when he came to know that his wife Nagamani, 19, was going to give birth to twins on Monday. He was at his workplace when the news reached him through a villager.

Somaiah, a daily wage labourer, thought that he should share the joy with Nagamani as soon as she returns from the hospital at Huzurnagar.

A few hours later, another news reached his workplace and struck him like a thunderbolt.

Washed away

The auto-rickshaw in which his wife Nagamani, his mother Bhadramma, her mother Nagendra and her grandfather Krishnaiah were travelling was washed away in Vemuluri vaagu between Sarvaram and Huzurnagar on Saturday afternoon.

“A villager who met my wife at the hospital told me that we would be blessed with twins. I was happy with the news but I didn’t expect the worst thing in store for me,” Somaiah told The Hindu on Sunday.

As all the four members, including his mother and wife, died in the ghastly accident, Somaiah has been weeping inconsolably.

Heart broken

He waited on the banks of Yatavakilla tank to fish out the bodies all throughout Saturday night and came home with a broken heart.

Nagamani’s father, A. Venkateswarlu, is also in deep shock since he lost his daughter, wife and father apart from his son-in-law’s mother. He had sent all the three to accompany his daughter to the hospital.

“Nagamani developed pains on Friday night. We then have decided to consult the doctor without wasting any time.

As I had to go for work, we have sent the trio to the hospital to accompany my wife,” Somaiah, who married her a year ago, said.

One of the survivors, Pedda Saidi Reddy, 74, however, blamed the auto-rickshaw driver for the accident.

“We advised him to go slow but he didn’t pay any heed. He stuffed the vehicle with 12 persons in place of four and drove the vehicle with a high speed on the overflowing causeway,” he rued.