COIMBATORE: Four persons died in a multiple vehicle collision at Thoppur in Dharmapuri on Tuesday.

According to police, a lorry laden with poultry feed from Maharashtra was bound to Namakkal when its driver, Muniappan, 45, from Namakkal, lost control, while descending the slope on the Thoppur ghat stretch.

“It brushed on three trucks before knocking down a two-wheeler and another truck, which then veered on the Salem-Dharmapuri Road and overturned after crashing into two cars coming in the opposite direction. The poultry feed-laden lorry also toppled after ramming into the median. The chain of collisions ended up in chaos,” police said.

In the series of mishaps, Arunagiri (38), from Madhemangalam and his sister Kalaiarasi (40), who were heading to a temple in Mecheri in Salem district by a two-wheeler, were killed on the spot. Two others, including lorry driver Muniappan and Dinesh (30), from Pethanaickenpalayam in Salem, also died.

Four others identified by police as Veeran (46), from Erode, Prabhakaran (42), from Thanjavur, Balakrishnan (47), from Pudukkottai, and Madesh (46), from Poosaripatti in Salem, were injured in the multiple-vehicle collision. They were all admitted to the Dharmapuri Government Hospital for treatment.

Traffic on the busy Salem-Dharmapuri National Highway came to a standstill for over two hours following the mishap. Dharmapuri District Collector R Sadheesh and Superintendent of Police SS Maheshwaran visited the accident spot and reviewed the rescue and relief operations. After preliminary inquiries, police suspect brake failure in the lorry, while descending the ghat road, to be the reason behind the continuous mishaps.