CHENNAI: A five-year-old girl died on the spot while nine sustained injuries after the tractor they were travelling in was rammed by an SETC bus on the Tiruchy-Chennai bypass near Padalur in Perambalur on Saturday.

It is said that a group of workers, along with their family members from Cuddalore, had gone to Sivagiri in Erode district a few days ago for sugarcane cutting work. On Friday late hours, they were returning to their village by tractor when the incident happened.

As they were proceeding on the Tiruchy-Chennai bypass on Padalur bridge in Perambalur on Saturday early morning, an SETC bus bound from Kanniyakumari to Chennai hit the tractor from the rear side, in which the tractor was toppled. In the impact, R Gunasri (5), daughter of a worker Ramu from Panrutti in Cuddalore, died on the spot, while Nagamuthu (57), his wife Sengeni (47), daughter Navindra (18), R Kalyani (60), M Sivanesan (24), R Saraswathi (42), her daughter Tamil Iniya (15), R Anitha (18), D Ramamurthy (41) sustained injuries.

Based on information, the Padalur police rushed to the spot, rescued the injured and sent them to the Perambalur GH. They retrieved the body of Gunasri and sent it to the GH for a post-mortem.

The police have registered a case and arrested the bus driver, Suresh Kumar, a resident of Aruppukottai in Virudhunagar district. Traffic was disrupted for around two hours on the Tiruchy-Chennai bypass.