Three persons, including a woman and a 10-year-old boy, were killed on the spot and 13 others injured when a van they were travelling in crashed against a tree on the Oddanchatram-Dharapuram Main Road at Ambilikkai near Oddanchatram on Sunday.
The deceased were K. Muthulakshmi (35) T. Ponnusamy (60) and P. Prakash (10), all residents of Tiruppur.
Of the 13 injured, three were critically injured and were rushed to Madurai Government Rajaji Hospital after preliminary treatment at Dindigul GH. Others were shifted to Tirupur Government Hospital and private hospitals in Oddanchatram. They were going to Sri Gowmariamman Temple at Veerapandi in Theni district for dharshan.
The front portion of the van was ripped apart. The police and local people struggled for hours to rescue the injured from the mangled remains of the van. After preliminary investigations, the police said that the driver had lost control and crashed the van against a road-side tree in the early hours.