Five passengers sustained minor injuries after a State Transport Corporation (STC) bus fell into a pit in Nazarathpet near Poonamallee on the Chennai – Bangalore Highway (NH – 04) on Saturday.
Police said the STC bus (route number 275K), which was carrying 40 passengers, was on its way to Dharmapuri from the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus in Koyambedu when it hit a lorry.
In order to avoid hitting pedestrians, the bus driver, S. Panneer (38), a native of Dharmapuri, steered the vehicle to the extreme left but it overturned and fell into a pit by the road. The incident occurred around 4.40 a.m. on Saturday.
In the impact, five passengers — Ramesh (24), Kumaresh (32), Molliu (43), Indira (28) and Murali (38) — sustained minor injuries. A patrol team attached with the Poonamallee traffic police was alerted and the injured were rushed to Government Kilpauk Medical College and Hospital where they were treated as out-patients and later discharged.
The Poonamallee traffic investigation team has registered a case under sections 279 (rash driving) and 337 (causing hurt by act of endangering life) of IPC.