Six persons were killed and 64 others were injured when a State Express Transport Corporation bus collided with an omni-bus on the Chennai-Bengaluru Highway at Chettiyappanur near Vaniyambadi in Tirupattur in the early hours of Saturday. The police said the drowsiness of the deceased SETC bus driver might have caused the accident.
The police said the deceased were identified as Mohammed Fairoz, 37, of Vaniyambadi; S. Rithika, 32, of Guduvanchery near Chennai; K. Elumalai, 47, of Ulundurpet in Kallakurichi; B. Ajith, 25, of Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh; N. Syed Mumtaz, 42, of Kolar in Karnataka; and M. Raji, 49, of Adyar in Chennai. Ellumalai and Syed were the drivers of the SETC bus and omni-bus respectively.
Of the injured persons, mostly passengers, four were admitted to the Government Medical College Hospital in Vellore. The rest were treated at the Government Taluk Hospital at Vaniyambadi.
The police said the SETC bus was heading to Chennai from Bengaluru when the driver lost control of the vehicle and hit the omni-bus, which was going to Bengaluru from Chennai, after smashing the steel median of the elevated bridge. Four persons, including Rithika and Elumalai, died on the spot. Syed died while being taken to the Vellore hospital. Raji died at the Vellore hospital a few hours later.
A police patrol, residents and passers-by rescued the injured persons and alerted the Vaniyambadi taluk police. Initially, the injured persons were shifted to the Government Taluk Hospital at Vaniyambadi, around 10 km from the scene of accident. Traffic was affected on the highway and around 65 policemen were deployed for traffic regulation. Tirupattur Collector D. Bhaskara Pandian, Superintendent of Police Albert John and Vaniyambadi MLA G. Sendhil Kumar inspected the spot and met the injured persons and their families at the government hospital at Vaniyambadi. The Vaniyambadi taluk police have filed a case and have begun an investigation, the police said.
Constable dies
A 45-year-old head constable, who was involved in the rescue of the injured passengers, died of cardiac arrest after he returned to the Vaniyambadi taluk police station around 8.30 a.m.
The police said M. Murali, of Ambur, was part of the night beat team of the police station on the highway. He was among the first rescuers who shifted the injured persons to the Government Taluk Hospital at Vaniyambadi. During the rescue, Murali complained of chest pain and another head constable S. Thiruvarutselvan took him to a private hospital. They returned to the police station where Murali was advised rest. When inspector S. Palani tried to wake him up later, Murali did not respond.
He was rushed to the government hospital where doctors declared him brought dead. Murali, who was shifted from the Prohibition Enforcement Wing to the taluk police station last year, is survived by his wife and two children.
