Student dies after falling off MTC footboard

Two of his schoolmates, who were also travelling with him, also fell down and sustained serious injuries.

Police said, three students —Subhash S (17), the deceased, Jeeva (17) from Nerkundram and Karthik (17) from Arumbakkam — studied at Pathipaga Chemmal K Ganapathy Government (PCKG) Higher Secondary School in Kodambakkam.

During peak hours on Thursday morning, the students, boarded MTC route number 27C (Tiruverkadu to T Nagar) to go to school and were travelling on the footboard.

When the bus was plying through a narrow stretch near Ram Theatre bus stop, the students were reportedly hit by a pole on the roadside. In the impact, all the three, Subhash, Jeeva and Karthik, fell off the bus one after the other. While Subhash came under the rear wheels of the bus, the other two suffered grievous injuries. Passersby alerted the police, who rushed the students to Royapettah Government Hospital.

Subhash, however, died on the way. His body was later sent to Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital for postmortem.

Jeeva and Karthik are undergoing treatment at a private hospital and their condition is said to be critical.

Pondy Bazaar traffic police have registered a case and arrested Parthiban (30), the driver of the bus and a native of Tiruvennainallur in Villupuram district.

Cases of people dying after falling off footboards of trains and buses are on the rise. In February, three men travelling by the Chengal patta-Chennai Beach train slipped and died near St Thomas Mount Station. They were also travelling on the footboard.