Mandal officer dies as bus overturns near Borra Caves

BORRA CAVES: An outing turned into a tragedy when N Muralidhar, 43, mandal parishad development officer (MPDO) of Gandepalli of East Godavari district died when a tourist bus he was travelling in overturned on the ghat road near Borra Caves under Ananthagiri police station limits on Sunday morning.
Muralidhar was on a two-day picnic with 31 staff members of his department and they were returning to Araku."The other 31 passengers of the bus escaped with minor injuries because of Muralidhar's alertness, but Muralidhar died after being crushed by the bus soon after it overturned," L Ramakrishna, sub-inspector of Ananthagiri police station told TOI.
The body was sent to the local hospital at S Kota in Vizianagaram district. The driver of the vehicle was taken into custody for interrogation. "We are yet to ascertain the reasons behind the accident, but the driver claimed that it happened because of brake failure. The bus was registered as AP 24 U 6499," Ramakrishna said. Muralidhar and his colleagues booked the tourist bus a few days ago and came directly to Araku on Saturday morning.
After a night halt in Araku on Saturday, they left the place on Sunday morning and were nearing Borra Caves in Ananthagiri mandal. When the bus reached a valley near the Borra Caves railway station, the driver of the vehicle lost control over the bus, which then hit a hill and overturned.