Seven persons were killed and three others injured when the car in which they were heading to Tirupati, collided with a lorry near here on Friday.
There was a newly-wedded couple among the occupants of the car and they were heading to Tiruppati to have a dharshan at Tirumala temple in view of the just concluded wedding. The bride was among the seven persons killed.
According to police, P. Vasudevan (30), belonging to P.Malaiyanur village, in Ulundurpet taluk of Villupuram District, was working as a sweeper in office of Revenue Divisional Officer, Tirukkoilur.
He and Sasikala (27) of Emam village in Ulundurpet taluk got married on December 5. The couple and their family members were in the car. Vijayakumar (20) of P.Malaiyanur village was on the wheel.
They started on Thursday night and were crossing Tiruvannamalai on Outer Ring Road close to midnight. When they were approaching Outer Ring Road-Tirukkoilur Road junction, a plastic chairs-laden lorry from Hosur that was heading in the opposite direction collided with the car. The car mangled beyond recognition killing seven out of 10 persons immediately. Those injured were rushed to Government Tiruvannamalai Medical College Hospital.
K. Arumugam, the driver of the lorry immediately jumped to rescue people caught trapped in the mangled car, a policeman said. Arumugam belonged to Pavuppattu village near Tiruvannamalai and he was taking the chair consignment to Puducherry. On the way he was planning to visit his village for dinner, that’s why he turned into the ring road.
Deceased are identified as Selvakumari (37) and her husband M. Elumalai (39), their child Dharshana (8) all belonging to Alangiri village in Ulundurpet taluk. Sasikala (27), th newly-wedded wife of Vasudevan, her parents and Settu (60) and Kolanji (57) belonging to Emam village in Ulundurpet taluk, and car driver Vijayakumar.
Those injured include Vasudevan, Veeran (54) of Emam, Hasan (6) son of deceased Elumalai.
A case has been booked by the Tiruvannamalai East Police station, and the lorry driver was arrested.
