3 dead, 32 injured as Omni bus collides with van near Udumalpet

an air-conditioned Omni bus was heading from Marthandam to Coimbatore. Around 5 am, it had crossed Udumalpet and was heading to Pollachi when the accident took place close to Ragalbavi Junction near Udumalpet on the Coimbatore to Dindigul NH.

According to the police, the tourist van with a capacity of 22 seats was carrying around 40 passengers (labourers) from various districts including Dindigul, Theni and Tiruchy who were all working at Ernakulam. Police said that the labourers were going home for Onam. Van driver Jeevanandham (30) of Dindigul was driving the vehicle towards Udumalpet when both vehicles had a head-on collision.

Police suspect that the van driver fell asleep as the vehicle swerved right and rammed the bus. While the van was crushed, the driver and two passengers (Kamathchi , Rangaraj) died on spot. Thirty two passengers were injured and admitted to a hospital.

Eight of them, said to be critical, were referred to the Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital. Bodies of the deceased were sent to Udumalpet GH for post-mortem. Other passengers of the bus escaped with minor injuries and were treated as outpatients.

In another incident, an omni bus from Coimbatore to Puducherry caught fire at Chithode near Bhavani in Erode District late on Saturday night. Erode district police said that nobody was killed or injured in the incident as they managed to get out as soon as they noticed fire engulfing the vehicle. An accident involving a two-wheeler is said to be the cause of the tragic incidents.