At least 15 persons were killed and 48 others injured in two bizarre road accidents in different parts of Tamil Nadu on Friday.
While a collision between a government bus and a lorry at Ottakoil near Ariyalur claimed the lives of 11 persons, including seven women and a six-year-old girl child, four others, including two students who had just completed their engineering course, were killed when their car rammed a wall near Coimbatore.
Official sources said a lorry collided with a State Transport Corporation bus on the Ariyalur-Sendhurai Bypass Road on Friday evening.
Passengers seated on the right side of the Sendhurai-bound bus bore the maximum impact of the collision.
Some of the passengers were knocked out of the vehicle, and seven of them died on the spot. The deceased included Prabha Darshini, 6, P. Alamelu, 45, R. Anandhi, 30, P. Suresh, 25, K. Dhanavel, 65, S. Sellamuthu, 55, S. Jayanthi, 27, T. Jayalakshmi, 23, S. Kavitha, 24, I. Shanthi, 32, and P. Seetha, 20, the police said.
Lorry driver R. Rajavel, 32, and bus driver Settu, 35, were among the 47 injured in the accident.
Car tragedy In the other accident on the Podanur-Chettipalayam road near Coimbatore, Pradeep, an engineering student aspiring to be a car racer, who was at the wheel, was among those instantly killed. The other deceased included two race car tuners, B. Saminathan and Saravanan, and Pradeep’s friend Sanath Kumar, also a student. His other friend S. Deepak Venkatesh suffered injuries.
All the four were killed on the spot when their car hit the wall of a government employees’ housing colony around 7.10 a.m. They were heading for Kari Motor Speedway at Chettipalayam for a practice session, ahead of a car rally scheduled there for Saturday.
