A 7-year-old boy died after he came under a mud load when a lorry transporting it landed on its side as the driver lost control of the vehicle at Kasbapuram, near here, on Tuesday morning.
Ruben was the second of three children of Sundar and Saritha of Madambakkam. Saritha suffers from speech impairment. Sundar has been working as a gardener at the S.O.S. Children's Village in East Tambaram. Ruben, his elder sister Madhu and younger brother Roshan study at St.Thomas Mount Panchayat Union Middle School, Tiruvanchery.
On Tuesday morning, Ruben, a class III student, was on his way to school along with a group of children, including his younger brother.
They were walking along the margins of Agaram Then Main Road. Near Kasbapuram bus stop, a lorry carrying a load of mud mined from the dry bed of a lake nearby came close to the children.
St. Thomas Mount Traffic Police (Investigation) said the driver Rajan, braked sharply, as a result of which the vehicle landed on its side. The load of the mud came down on Ruben. The lorry was carrying about 8 tonnes of mud.
“I heard a huge noise and noticed the lorry on its side. People rushed towards the spot and only then we realised that a child was trapped in the mud,” said A.Lakshmi, a resident of Kattabomman Street.
She said workers at the construction site of a house opposite her home were the first to get to the spot. They used shovels to dig the boy out. Hundreds of residents flocked to help, she said, adding the rest of the children had a miraculous escape.
A huge number of police personnel from Selaiyur reached the spot, and a government ambulance picked up the driver Rajan and cleaner Vaiyapuri who had sustained injuries. They were admitted to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital.
An earthmover was brought in to remove the mud. After nearly an hour, the boy was found struggling for life. He was rushed to the Tambaram Taluk Government Hospital in Chromepet in a government ambulance, only to be declared “brought dead.”
Traffic police said a case has been registered against Rajan. Residents were visibly angry and said there was non-stop movement of sand and mud-laden lorries through Agaram Then Main Road, which was very narrow.
