CHENNAI: A 26-year-old man who hitchhiked a truck to get to his hometown was killed in a road accident on Saturday night after the truck he was travelling in was hit by another truck near RK Pet in Tiruvallur district along the Chennai-Tirupati highway.

The deceased was Gopi of Rajanagaram village near Mottur, who worked at an automobile spare parts factory in Sri City, Andhra Pradesh, the police said.

On Saturday night, Gopi had finished his shift at work and hitched a ride home on a lorry travelling towards Sholingur, the police said.

Around midnight, as the vehicle reached the Arcot Kuppam stretch, another lorry coming from behind hit the side of Gopi's lorry while overtaking. On impact, Gopi, who was in the passenger seat, suffered a severe head injury and died on the spot.

The driver of the lorry escaped unhurt. Upon information, the police reached the spot, recovered the body, and sent it to the Tiruttani Government Hospital for postmortem. A case has been registered, and both lorry drivers were detained.