Two college girls were killed when a readymix lorry ran over them as they were crossing the road after college hours near Ramoji Film City, Abdullapurmet, on Friday evening.

Traffic came to a grinding halt for several hours on the Vijayawada highway as enraged college students and parents staged a rasta roko. As hundreds of vehicles were stopped causing a massive traffic jam, the police diverted the traffic from Anajpur, Kothaguda and Batasingaram villages to proceed further on the highway.

According to police, four students of Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Polytechnic College, Abdullapurmet were crossing the road near Ramoji Film City main gate at about 3.30 pm when a speeding readymix vehicle (lorry) going towards Vijayawada first hit the divider and then ran over the students.

While two students K Bhargavi and N Mamatha died on the spot, two others received minor injuries. The students were studying automobile engineering diploma and belonged to Koyyalagudem and Tangadapally villages respectively. Enraged over the accident, the students sat on dharna on the highway at about 4.30 pm.

The parents and relatives who reached the spot too joined in the rasta roko demanding compensation from the vehicle owner. The police tried to convince them that the lorry belonged to a person from Karimnagar district and that he could be reached immediately, but the protesters refused to budge. L B Nagar deputy commissioner of police D Nagendra Kumar said the lorry driver was taken into custody and a case registered.