Toddler dies on spot, mother critical after tanker hits scooter

Raja (35), a plumber from Thiruvallur Nagar in Kundrathur, and his wife R Sindhu (30) were returning from Pammal Municipality where they had gone to enrol their two children, Kanishka (2) and Sarvesh (1), under Aadhaar. Kanishka was seated at the front and Sindhu carried Sarvesh in her armswhile riding pillion.

Around noon, while they were on Kundrathur-Pallavaram road, a tanker lorry tried to overtake the scooter and hit it. The family fell off the vehicle. Sindhu and Sarvesh were run over by the lorry, but Raja and Kanishka escaped unhurt as they fell on the other side. Sarveshdied on the spot.

It took more than 20 minutes for the ambulance to arrive and take the injured to the hospital. The Shankar Nagar police took the toddler’s body in their vehicle to Chromepet government hospital for post-mortemexamination.

The truck driver, Govindasammy (46) from Chengam Nagar in Tiruvannamalai, who was allegedly drunk at the time of accident, tried to escape, but was caught and beaten up by the public. The police team rescued him from the mob and admitted Sindhu to a private hospital in Chromepet. Later, the Chromepet traffic investigation police registered a case and arrested Govindasammy.

Later, people blocked the road in protest and demanded strict action against speeding lorries and delayed ambulances. This affected traffic for morethan an hour.