More than 20 workers, mostly women, were injured, after a private company bus overturned, when the driver lost control of the vehicle on the Arcot-Kancheepuram Main Road, in Kodaiyambakkam village near Cheyyar town in Tiruvannamalai on Wednesday.
Police claimed that the bus driver was drunk at the time of the accident, which took place around 4.15 a.m. The bus driver, N. Thirumal, 28, a resident of Cheyyar, has been arrested.
Police said that the bus, belonging to a private company, was returning from the company premises in Walajabad town, Kancheepuram, with 40 workers, who were being dropped home after work hours. While trying to steer on to a narrow curve on the stretch, the bus driver lost control. The bus overturned, and fell into a nearby plot of dry farmland, away from the carriageway. Kodaiyambakkam village was the last stop of the bus’s journey.
Passer-by and farmers in the area rushed to the spot and rescued the injured workers from the mangled bus. The injured persons were admitted to the Government District Headquarters Hospital in Kancheepuram town. Of the 22 injured persons, 17 suffered minor injuries and were treated as out patients at the hospital.
A case has been registered by Moranam police near Cheyyar. Further investigations are on, police said.
