TRICHY: Five people were killed and 43 persons were injured in a road accident involving a mofussil bus of Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) and a car on the Trichy-Dindigul national highway (NH) near Manapparai in Trichy district on Sunday evening.
All the deceased were the occupants of the car.
Police said that the front tyre of a hatchback car moving towards Trichy on Dindigul – Trichy NH suffered a burst while approaching the Kalkothanur village near Manapparai town. The sudden impact caused the speeding car to deviate from the carriageway and speed towards the opposite lanes of the highway even after crossing the highway’s centre median.
The car rammed a mofussil bus of TNSTC heading to Dindigul on the Trichy-Dindigul lane of the national highway. Although the bus driver attempted to avoid hitting the car approaching from the opposite direction, the car rammed the bus.
In the impact, the bus driver lost control, and both the TNSTC bus and the hatchback car turned turtle on the vacant space adjoining the highway. In the impact, all five occupants of the car identified as P Nagarathinam, 36, M Muthamilselvan, 48, G Manikandan, 25, R Ayyappan, 20, and S Dheenadayalan 20, were killed on the spot.
The victims hailed from Trichy and Karur districts. The car was completely mangled in the collision, making it difficult for the police and locals to retrieve the bodies of the deceased occupants. The bodies of the deceased were moved to the Manapparai government hospital for autopsy. Police said that at least 43 passengers of the TNSTC bus sustained injuries.
While 19 of the injured passengers of the bus were treated as outpatients in the Manapparai government hospital, around 24 are undergoing treatment as inpatients in the government hospital and a few private hospitals in Manapparai town. The Vaiyampatti police have registered a case and investigating the accident.
