Vehicle movement hit as lorries collide

People panic as over 150 cooking gas cylinders roll on the road

A lorry carrying cooking gas cylinders fell on its side following an accident on Palakkad Main Road on Friday. Police later found that the cylinders wereempty. Photo: Special Arrangement

Head-on collision between an LPG cylinder-carrying lorry and a tipper lorry on the Palakkad Main Road on Friday morning affected traffic for over an hour. The drivers of the two vehicles sustained injuries.

According to the Madukkarai Police, in the incident that happened around 10.30 a.m. the driver of the lorry carrying empty LPG cylinders hit the tipper lorry carrying limestone while attempting to overtake a bus.

There was hardly any space for the lorry, which the driver Maruthamuthu, did not take into account.

The police had named him the accused in the case.

In the impact of the collision, the LPG-carrying lorry fell on its side and came to a screeching halt. As the 150-plus cylinders tumbled out of the vehicle and rolled over on the road, passers by and road users panicked and ran helter-skelter fearing for their safety.

The police said that the initial impression was that the cylinders were loaded. Traffic on the busy road came to a halt.

Only after the police made sure that the cylinders were empty and there was no possibility of explosion, did the traffic resume.

The police later brought in a crane to move the lorry to the roadside in order to restore flow of traffic.

They said that the LPG-carrying lorry was on its way to a refilling station near K.G. Chavady. The limestone-laden lorry was on its way to a cement factory in Madukkarai.

The police have registered a case in this connection.