Guntur, May 17 (IANS): Six people were killed and six others injured when an auto-rickshaw in which they were travelling was hit by a truck in Pondugala village in Andhra Pradesh's Palnadu district near Andhra Pradesh-Telangana border early Wednesday.

The accident victims were tribals who hailed from neighbouring state of Telangana and were going to Pulipada in Palnadu district to work as agriculture workers.

According to police, a truck, which was heading towards Nalgonda district of Telangana, hit the auto-rickshaw coming from Nalgonda towards Palnadu.

After ramming into the auto-rickshaw, the truck driver sped away towards Telangana. Acting swiftly, police formed a special team and traced the truck which had Tamil Nadu registration number.

The injured were admitted to a Gurazala hospital.

Palnadu District Superintendent of Police Y. Ravi Sankara Reddy said the victims hailed from Damacherla mandal in Nalgonda district and were on their way to Palnadu district to work in agriculture fields.

Meanwhile, Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao expressed deep grief over the death of six tribal labourers.

All the victims hailed from Narsapur village of Damaracharla Mandal in Telangana. The Chief Minister condoled those who lost their lives in the accident and conveyed deep sympathies to the bereaved family members.

He directed Miryalaguda MLA N Bhaskar Rao to provide immediate better medical treatment to the injured persons. The Chief Minister announced an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh each to the deceased families and Rs 1 lakh to the injured.