At least fourteen women farm workers and a boy died when the tractor-trailer in which they were travelling fell into a Musi canal in Yadadri Bhongir district of Telangana on Sunday morning.
According to eyewitnesses, the accident occurred when the tractor-driver tried to save a motorcycle rider coming in opposite direction on the banks of the canal.
He lost control of the vehicle, carrying around 30 people mostly women, which resulted in the accident.
The women were on their way to a cotton field.
While 14 died on the spot, one died at the Ramannagudem hospital.
Some of the survivors blamed the tractor driver Venkataramana, who is absconding, claiming that he was driving with one hand while smoking a cigarette with the other.
Police say that the trailer fell on the top of the women pinning them into the water.
Farmworkers in the nearby fields rushed to the spot and pulled-out many, who were trapped under the trailer in neckdeep water.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, district minister Jagadeswara Reddy expressed shock over the incident and asked district officials to rush to the spot.
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