A total of 25 people were injured, with one person in a critical condition, as a bus, container lorry and truck containing chickens collided in the wee hours of Sunday morning near the Chetty Nagar Bus stop on the East Coast Road.
The driver of the container lorry has been admitted at the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research for treatment with head injuries and a fractured femur.
He is now under observation and under the care of a neurosurgeon with a ‘Low Glasgow Coma Scale’ coma, an official from JIPMER told TheHindu .
There were 24 injured on the bus, including the driver and the conductor, and they were rushed to a nearby private hospital in Puducherry to seek treatment. According to an official from the hospital, 17 men, six women and two children were injured. Of the total, 13 persons suffered from fractures, seven had minor injuries and four were discharged with some minor treatment, the official said.
The driver of the bus had sustained fractures to the radius, but there was no head injury. None of the victims in the private hospital was in critical condition, the official said.
According to the Marakkanam Police, the accident took place at 5 a.m. when the bus collided head-on with the container lorry while trying to avoid the chicken-laden lorry that was stopped on the side of the road on the Puducherry-Chennai highway.
At 4.45 a.m., the truck containing chickens had a puncture and had stopped on the side of the road. At 5 a.m., the Periyar Transport bus swerved to the right on seeing the chicken truck. It scraped the side of the truck and collided with the lorry which was heading towards Puducherry. The bus had been over-speeding.
All three vehicles had been totally damaged, the police said.
