At least five persons sustained grievous injuries when a speeding private bus plunged into a roadside tank while attempting to overtake a truck on the Ring Road near Chintamani on Thursday.
The police said Tirumoorthi, the bus driver, coming from Kamudhi (via Aruppukottai) attempted to overtake a lorry on Ring Road at 10.15 a.m.
However, when the lorry driver swerved the vehicle in a bid to avoid a crater, Tirumoorthi turned the bus to avoid ramming the truck. As a result, he lost control of the bus. Since the tank did not have much water, the truck fell in the dry portion of the tank.
Several heavy vehicles and cars queued up on both sides of the accident site for nearly a kilometre. Traffic was restored after nearly an hour.
