TIRUCHY: A mother-daughter duo were killed after a lorry hit an ambulance in which the ailing mother was being moved from the hospital at Pattukkottai in Thanjavur on Thursday.

It is said, MN Sellachi (78), a resident of Kattimedu near Thiruthuraipoondi in Tiruvarur, had a block in the brain blood vessels, and so she was undergoing treatment in a private hospital at Pattukkottai for the past few days.

On Thursday evening, Sellachi was discharged from the hospital, and so she was taken to her house by an ambulance, accompanied by her daughter Fairoz Banu (55), son Haja Mohideen (45) and daughter-in-law Jubaidah Gani (38). 

When they were nearing Kallikadu near Pattukkottai in Thanjavur, a tipper lorry that was proceeding in the opposite direction had a head-on collision with the ambulance in which Sellachi and her daughter Fairoz Banu died on the spot, while Haja Mohideen and the ambulance driver S Sathish (25) from Pattukkottai sustained severe injuries, and Jubaidah Gani escaped with minor injuries.

On information, Pattukkottai Taluk police rushed to the spot and retrieved the bodies of Sellachi and Fairoz Banu and sent them to the Pattukkottai GH, while the injured Haja Mohideen and the ambulance driver Sathish Kumar are undergoing treatment. The police registered a case and are searching for the lorry driver who fled from the spot.