Three members of a family were crushed to death when a lorry collided head-on with a car at Vathiyam near Lalapettai on the Tiruchi-Karur National Highway on Monday afternoon.
The accident occurred when the car with four occupants was proceeding to Tiruchi from Karur.
The lorry, laden with cement, was on its way to Erode from Thanjavur. The car was crushed beyond recognition in the impact, police sources said.
On information, the police and fire and rescue services personnel rushed to the spot and carried out rescue operations. The locals too took part in the recue efforts. The rescuers took more than half an hour to pull out the occupants from the car.
R.Ramesh Santhuri, his wife Usha, and their son Aditya, who suffered multiple injuries, died on the spot. They had been living in Ram Sharma Nagar in Gandhi Gramam.
Their second son Ayush, who was admitted to the Karur Government Hospital for treatment, is said to be out of danger.
The bodies have been kept in the GH for post-mortem. Drunken driving by lorry driver was suspected to be the reason for the accident.
Kulithalai police have registered a case and arrested T.Varadharajan (29), driver of the lorry, of Arani in Thiruvannamalai district. Breath analyzer test had revealed that he was in an inebriated condition when the accident occurred.
