Ministers convoy kills five

HYDARABAD: A speeding vehicle from a federal minister’s security escort collided with a

motorised rickshaw today, killing five people and

injuring seven others

in southern India, police said.

A jeep carrying security guards for junior defence minister MM Pallam Raju struck the rickshaw head-on near Kakinada town in Andhra Pradesh state, killing four women and the rickshaw driver instantly, said a police officer in the control room in Kakinada.

Seven other people, including three policemen, were injured and taken to a hospital, said the officer, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Raju, who was travelling in another car, was unharmed. The minister promised to help the victims’ families after angry villagers surrounded him demanding compensation for those killed and injured.