Five of family from Chennai killed in road mishap near Villupuram

CHENNAI: Five members of a family returning to Chennai after a trip to Kerala died after their car was rammed by a lorry on the National Highway near Villupuram in the wee hours of Tuesday.

Vijay Veeraragavan (42) from Nanganallur and his wife Vatsala (37), were working as software engineers in private companies in Chennai. The couple planned for a family trip to Kerala and departed from Chennai in their car with their two children Aadith (10) and Vishnu (5) along with Vijay's mother Vasantha (70) on December 28. On Tuesday, they were returning to Chennai after the trip. Around 3 am when the car was nearing Mundiyampakkam in Villupuram on the Trichy-Chennai National highway, the vehicles were moving slowly due to traffic and a tipper lorry which was out of control rammed on Vijay's car. In the impact, the car collided with another lorry and was crushed between both the lorries.

Police said all five of them who were inside the vehicle died on the spot with severe injuries. On information, the Mundiyampakkam police team who rushed to the spot retrieved the bodies and sent them for post-mortem to the Mundiyampakkam government hospital. The police have registered a case and further investigations are on.