Five persons, including four college students from Salem, were killed in an accident involving a car and a truck near Tiruppur on Thursday.
According to the police, eight members, seven of whom were students from a private medical college in Salem, were travelling on national highway in a four-wheeler towards Udhagamandalam. They started from Salem in the early hours of Thursday after their college was shutdown due to the COVID-19 scare, police said.
At around 5.45 a.m., the driver lost control and the car rammed the rear of a moving truck near Ranga Nagar in Avinashi.
“The truck driver was not at fault here,” a senior officer from Tiruppur district police said. Elavarasan, Vengatasalam, Rajesh and Vasanth, all aged 21, along with the driver Manikandan were killed on the spot. Three others - Santhosh, Jayasurya and Karthi, escaped with injuries. The first two were admitted in a private hospital at Thirumuruganpoondi in Tiruppur city while the third student was referred to the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital, according to the police.
The truck driver absconded following the accident. Avinashi police registered a case and efforts to nab the truck driver are under way.
