It was a black Friday for the Ariyalur and a cluster of villages as the victims and those injured of the road accident involving a Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation bus and a lorry at Ottakoil village, were returning to their homes after attending to their works in the town.
Ten persons — three men, six women, and a six-year-old girl — were killed in the accident on Friday evening.
Heart-rending scenes were witnessed at the Government Hospital, Ariyalur, with relatives and friends of the victims and the injured thronging the hospital.
Three students — Jayanthi, Jayalakshmi, and Suresh, who were among the victims, — were returning in the Ariyalur-Senthurai TNSTC town bus after attending the B. Ed. examinations.
For the parents of S. Kavitha (23), it was a different story. She had come to Ariyalur to register her name with the employment exchange.
A postgraduate from Jayamkondam, she hails from a poor family.
A retired teacher, Dhanavel of Sedhalavadi was returning to the village after visiting a bank in Ariyalur, and he was among those who died on the spot.
A family of three persons was travelling in the bus to attend a temple festival at Rayanpuram. While the parents were injured, their six-year-old daughter Prabhadarshini was killed on the spot.
Many bereaved relatives complained that the valuables were missing from the bodies of the victims. One mourner said he was yet to trace the jewellery his relative had been wearing.
Poor lighting facility on the hospital premises, particularly in front of the mortuary where the bodies had been kept, added to the agony of the grieving relatives and friends.
Minister visitsR. Vaithilingam, Housing and Urban Development Minister, visited the Government Hospital here in the late evening and consoled the relatives of the victims, besides enquiring about the treatment being given to the injured. Ariyalur Collector E. Saravanavelraj told The Hindu that special medical teams were formed to treat the inured.
The teams including doctors drafted for special duty from the primary health centres in the nearby villages.
The Collector said the TNSTC made special transport arrangements for the transit of the relatives and friends of the victims and injured from the hospital to their native villages.
Thanjavur Special Correspondent adds: Fifteen of the seriously injured people were admitted to Thanjavur Medical College Hospital.
