Three of family among four killed as bus rams car

The incident happened in the morning when a sedan from Madurai was traveling towards Coimbatore. When it crossed Reddiyarchathiram and was traveling in the highways in Palakkanuthu village, a bus, from Tirupur to Madurai, coming in the opposite direction, collided with the car and dragged the vehicle some distance. 

The bus came to a halt when it fell into a small pit. In the impact, the roof of the car flew away and the vehicle was retrieved after efforts by police and local residents. In the incident, four persons died on the spot and one more was fighting for life. 

The deceased were identified as Chitra (35), her daugther Latchana (8), Chitra’s mother Muthulakshi (66) and car driver Rengasamy (56). Police said Chitra along with her family were on their way to Coimbatore to admit her son, Thirumanjayan (14), in Class 9 at a private school. 

In the incident, Rengasamy’s body was trapped in the car and it was recovered after a efforts for nearly an hour. Also in the incident, Thirumanjayan sustained grievous injuries and was rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment. Ottanchathiram police have booked a case and were investigating the incident. 

Dindigul SP Sakthivel visited the accident spot and carried out an investigation. Then while addressing the media, he said accidents happen frequently in the Ottanchathiram, Moolachathiram and Palakkanuthu section mainly because of speeding vehicles. 

To prevent frequent accidents, more barricades would be set up and the number of speed breakers would be increased, Sakthivel said.