Two college girls and a mason died in a road accident involving a two-wheeler and a lorry on the Aranthangi-Meemisal road at Tholuvanoor in the district on Tuesday.
The names of the victims were given as P. Saraswathi (20), S. Ambika (20), and S. Karuppaiah (43). The three were riding a two-wheeler when the accident occurred.
Police sources said Saraswathi and Ambika missed the bus when they came to the bus stop in the morning hours to proceed to their college. The girls asked Karuppaiah to take them in his two-wheeler to catch the bus.
Karuppaiah who had just then dropped his daughter at the bus stop obliged the girls’ plea and took them in his vehicle.
Saraswathi was an undergraduate Chemistry student in the Government College for Women at Pudukottai, while Ambika was studying B.B.A at Karaikudi.
The sources said Karuppaiah was riding the two-wheeler with the girls on the pillion when the vehicle and a tipper lorry transporting blue metal collided head-on at a turning.
The three died on the spot in the accident and the driver of the lorry that was on its way to Meemisal escaped from the spot abandoning the vehicle. The Meemisal police have registered a case.
The two girls had reportedly missed the bus and hitchhiked with the mason