Road accident near Karur: 4 dead, including 8-year-old girl

CHENNAI: Five persons were killed, including four on the spot, when an omni bus hit a tractor, smashed a median and collided with a tourist van proceeding in the opposite direction near Semmadai in this district on Saturday, police said.

A 20-year-old woman who was among those injured in the accident succumbed at a hospital.

Expressing shock and grief over the tragic incident, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin announced a solatium of Rs 3 lakh each to the families of those killed in the mishap near Chinna Vadugapatti on the Namakkal-Karur National Highway.

The van driver, too, was among those dead, police said, and added the injured were admitted to a nearby government hospital and a private treatment facility.

The omni bus proceeding to Nagercoil from Bengaluru rammed into a tractor on the National Highway, and due to the impact, the vehicle veered right, smashing the median and collided with the tourist van coming from Thoothukudi in the opposite direction, police said.

The front portions of the omni bus, the tractor, and the van were damaged in the collision.

Two minors, including a ten-year-old boy and a twelve-year-old girl, besides D Sasikumar (52) and K Arun Tirupathi (45) died on the spot, while a 20-year-old woman succumbed at the Karur Government Medical College Hospital.

As many as 27 people were undergoing treatment at government and private hospitals and the CM has ordered the health officials to ensure prompt and sophisticated treatment to the injured, an official release said.

Conveying his deepest condolences and sympathies to the bereaved families, Stalin informed that he had ordered a compensation of Rs 3 lakh each to the families of the deceased, Rs one lakh each to those who were seriously injured and are undergoing treatment, and Rs 50,000 each to those who sustained mild injuries, from the Chief Minister's Public Relief Fund.