Two jawans and a civilian were killed on the spot and four other jawans from the Madras Regimental Centre (MRC) injured, when a truck turned turtle on the Annur — Mettupalayam Road on Wednesday afternoon.
The vehicle was returning from the Coimbatore airport with the body of a jawan, Saravanakumar, who was killed in Meghalaya.
According to sources, along with Palanisamy, a relative of the dead jawan working with the Tamil Nadu Housing Board, a six-member team left the MRC to receive the body of Saravanakumar. It was drizzling and while crossing a junction, the driver, while negotiating an oncoming vehicle, steered away from the road.
Palanisamy and two sepoys, Sivakumar Reddy of Andhra Pradesh and Prakash of Karnataka, died on the spot. The injured MRC personnel were identified as Havildar Gandhi, Sepoy Patel, Subedars Riju and John Britto.
Britto is said to be critically injured.
MRC Battalion Commander Y.V. Mallur and Quarter Master M. Raman, along with Retired Col. K.V. Paul, rushed to the accident spot to arrange rescue operations.
Special Correspondent writes from Udhagamandalam:
A pall of gloom descended on the MRC at Wellington and Aruvankadu and Periya Bikkatty as news of the tragedy spread in The Nilgiris.
Sources told The Hindu that arrangements had been made at Periya Bikkatty to receive the bodies of Saravana Kumar and his relative Palanisamy. The injured would be taken to the Military Hospital at Wellington. Sivakumar Reddy and Prakash had gone to receive the body of Saravana Kumar as they belonged to the same unit and were stationed in Shillong. They had come to Wellington for training recently.
Keywords: road accident
