Twenty five persons, mainly senior citizens and women, were injured when the private bus they were travelling in rammed a Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) bus from behind, on Tiruvallur-Red Hills Main Road, a state highway, on Friday.
Police said the accident, which occurred around 6 a.m., was possibly caused due to poor visibility, as the area was enveloped in a thick fog at the time. They added that unlike within the city, areas in the outskirts were foggy even a few hours after sunrise. Murthy, the driver of the private bus, is absconding.
The TNSTC bus (Ponneri-Tiruvallur) was on its way to Tiruvallur. It had just passed Ekkadu-Kandigai village, when a passenger asked the driver to halt the bus. Since he was insistent, the driver stopped in the middle of the road, assuming there was no vehicle behind them. But the private bus, also heading to Tiruvallur, rammed it.
“Rescue operations were initially delayed as that stretch was empty. A passenger then called the police and an ambulance and we rushed to the spot,” a police officer of the Pullarambakkam station said.
Except for the TNSTC bus driver, K. Kodantharaman (47) and a passenger, Sriram (38), who were taken to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital in Chennai, all the other injured were admitted to the Government District Headquarter Hospital in Tiruvallur.
A case has been registered.
