Vijayawada, Nov 11 : Four youths were killed as a speeding car in which they were travelling overturned in Andhra Pradesh's Krishna district near here early Tuesday.

The accident occurred on the national highway near Gandigunta in Vuyyuru mandal, police said. The car overturned and fell on the service road. Fortunately, it did not hit any vehicle on the service road.

While three of the occupants of the car died on the spot, the fourth succumbed at a hospital.

Police rushed to the spot and launched an investigation. Preliminary investigation by the police shows that overspeeding led to the accident.

The deceased were residents of Konduru village near Vijayawada. They were identified as Konatama Chintaiah (17), Chatragadda Rakesh Babu (24), Prince Babu (23) and Goriparti Bapanaiah (24).

Meanwhile, passengers of a private travel bus had a narrow escape as the bus caught fire on the Hyderabad-Vijayawada highway in the early hours of Tuesday.

The bus, which was going to Kandukur from Hyderabad, suddenly caught fire near Pittampally in Chityala mandal of Telangana's Nalgonda district.

The driver noticed smoke coming out of the engine and immediately stopped the bus. He alerted the passengers, who all got down before the flames engulfed the vehicle. There were 29 passengers aboard the bus belonging to a private travel agency. The vehicle was completely gutted before a fire engine reached the spot to douse the flames. Police rushed to the spot and took up the investigation.

The Telugu states have seen a series of road accidents involving buses during the last three weeks.

A head-on collision between an RTC bus and a tipper truck in Telangana's Rangareddy district claimed 19 lives on November 3. The speeding truck carrying construction material rammed into the bus, which was going to Hyderabad from Tandur. Several passengers were buried under the gravel.

Nineteen people were burnt to death when a private bus caught fire after running over a motorbike lying on the road following an accident near Kurnool town of Andhra Pradesh on October 24. The bus belonging to Vemuri Kaveri Travels was engulfed in flames after the motorbike got stuck under its belly. The spark and fuel leakage from the bike triggered the massive blaze.

/IANS