In a tragic incident, a six-year-old boy travelling, on a two-wheeler with his father, was crushed to death when he came under the wheels of a college bus near the Thokkavadi bus stop in Tiruchengodu, Namakkal district, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. His father suffered serious injuries, and the incident sparked off a protest with people blocking the Tiruchengodu – Erode road for two hours, disrupting traffic.
According to police, Satheeshkumar, 29, of Ammayappa Nagar in Kootapalli, an autorickshaw driver at a private company, was on his two-wheeler with his son, Praveesh. Whhen he neared the bus stop, a bus belonging to K.S.R. College of Technology that was on its way to Tiruchengodu, knocked the two-wheeler down. Both father and son fell on the road. The boy was caught under the wheels of the bus and died on the spot, while his father suffered injuries.
Following the accident, a large number of people gathered on the road and staged a protest. They said from 8 a.m. to 9.30 a.m., on working days, hundreds of buses of educational institutions ply at a high speeds leading to frequent accidents on the four-lane road. They claimed that their repeated requests for the placing of barricades and the installing of speed-breakers on this stretch had not been met, leading to the loss of lives. They refused to allow vehicles to move and wanted the college bus driver to be handed over to them. When the driver of a private bus from Rasipuram to Erode attempted to cross the site of the accident, the angry crowd pelted stones on the bus and damaged its windscreen.
Tiruchengodu Deputy Superintendent of Police Imayavaramban and police personnel went to the sitr of the accident and held talks with the protestors. After the police agreed to install speed-breakers, the protest was withdrawn and traffic resumed.
The body of the child was taken to to the Tiruchengodu Government Hospital.
