Three persons including a Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) conductor died and four others were injured, after a van knocked down a group of people waiting at a bus stop in Moolakadai on Wednesday morning.
The van driver, Rahamathullah (43), lost control of the vehicle at 6.40 a.m., after he suffered an epileptic attack.
The van, run by a private operator, was on its way to Red Hills after dropping off schoolchildren in Vyasarpadi. It first rammed a barricade before running into the crowd and only stopped after it hit an iron pillar.
While one person died on the spot, two others died at a hospital.
Madhavaram traffic police have arrested the driver.
The deceased have been identified as Rangabashyam (55) of Kannigapuram, Arun Kumar (17), a first-year engineering student and Rajesh (55), an MTC conductor, who had been posted to regularise the parking of MTC buses that halted at the Moolakadai bus stop.
The four injured — Kandasamy (65), Vivek (21), Mani (56) and Kannama (46) — have been admitted to Government Stanley Hospital.
“Rahamathullah is a driver for a private van service which picks up and drops school students. There were no students in the van when the accident occurred, as all of them had already been dropped off at their schools,” said a police officer with Madhavaram traffic investigation wing.
Traffic police officers said the Moolakadai junction was severely congested due to ongoing construction work for a flyover.
“We were initially unsure if Rahamathullah had really had an epileptic attack at the time of accident, and believed it could have been negligence on his part. But he had another attack while in custody, so it is clear he suffers from these attacks” the officer said.
