HYDERABAD: Alleged drunken driving claimed the lives of two schoolchildren after a lorry ran over them at Karmanghat on the city fringes on Monday. Two other girls, sisters of the victims, were also injured.

Uma Maheswari (14), her sister Kalyani (11), Jhansi (14) and her sister Mamata (11) were walking towards Gayathrinagar bus-stop on Karmanghat main road at 2.30 p.m. when the lorry came from behind and crushed two of them to death. "I was on the other side of the road and could make out that the driver was drunk as the lorry was moving in a zigzag manner," Shankar, an eyewitness told The Hindu . The children were walking on the extreme left of the road. "I heard their cries and rushed only to see the driver dozing off on the wheel," he explained. Their two sisters sustained serious injuries. The lorry carrying waste paper also hit a huge rock on the roadside and came to a halt only after uprooting an electric pole.

Snapped electric wires fell on the vehicle sparking off flames. Angry locals dragged out the driver and cleaner and thrashed them soundly before handing them over to the police. The injured were rushed to Kamineni Hospital. The driver was sent to Osmania General Hospital to ascertain if he was drunk. The girls are students of M.H. Guptha School at Indira Sadan and live at Janardhanreddy Nagar.

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