Four members of a family were charred to death and another person was critically injured after their electric vehicle (EV) crashed into a road divider and caught fire on the Vijayawada West Bypass in Andhra Pradesh’s NTR district on Monday evening, police said.
The accident occurred at 6pm when the occupants were returning from a family function in Namburu village in Guntur district, police said.
The deceased were identified as Kommareddy Ramdev (39), a resident of Nunna near Vijayawada; his mother, Kommareddy Aruna (65), his sister, Tiguru Vijaya (30), both residents of Namburu; and a child whose identity was not immediately available.
According to a senior Vijayawada police official, the car rammed into a roadside railing or divider, following which a fire broke out inside the vehicle. The flames quickly engulfed the car, trapping four occupants inside. They died at the spot, the official said.
Another person travelling in the car sustained critical injuries. Local residents alerted the police and fire services and helped shift the injured person to a nearby hospital. The victim’s condition remained critical, police said, citing doctors.
Police and fire personnel reached the spot soon after receiving information about the accident. Firefighters brought the blaze under control, while police launched an investigation into the circumstances leading to the crash.
Preliminary findings suggest that overspeeding may have caused the accident, police said. Further investigation is under way to establish the exact sequence of events that led to the car crashing into the divider and catching fire.