CHENNAI: State forest department minister RS Raja Kannappan expressed condolences to the families of two forest department staff, who died in a road accident near Uthangarai in Krishnagiri.

A department release said that forest department staff Karthikeyan and Diwakar, attached to Tirupattur district, died on the spot, on Wednesday evening, after a Karnataka government bus, plying between Bengaluru and Tiruvannamalai, collided with their two-wheeler near Kamalapuram village while travelling to Mathur from Uthangarai.

Expressing his condolences to the families of the deceased personnel, the minister urged the field staff, including forest guards and forest rangers, of the department to be cautious while travelling on roads and during work.