Tirupati: Four people died when an ambulance rammed into a parked lorry on the Naidupeta-Renigunta national highway in the district in the early hours of Monday.
The mishap occurred near Uranduru village in Srikalahasti mandal when the ambulance, rushing a patient from Kolkata to Bengaluru, crashed into the lorry.
According to police, the ambulance was carrying an asthma patient Braja Dolui (48), along with attendants Tagari Dolui (35), Jathin Dulai (55) and driver Rithesh Pandit (30), all from Hooghly district in West Bengal.
The high-speed impact crushed the front part of the ambulance, killing four occupants on the spot.
Authorities suspect the driver may have dozed off due to fatigue after a long journey that began late Saturday.
Local residents and Srikalahasti police rushed to the scene, rescuing the injured and clearing the wreckage to restore traffic flow. Two survivors were admitted to Srikalahasti Government Hospital in critical condition, while the bodies were sent for postmortem.
Srikalahasti DSP K N Murthy confirmed the victims' identities and noted the ambulance had six occupants.
Police registered a case and launched an investigation.