Five killed in road accidents

Five persons including a 14-year-old boy were killed in two road accidents in Virudhunagar district.

In the accident reported here on Wednesday on Sivakasi-Tiruthangal Road four persons were killed. This included three from Kancheepuram district when a speeding bus operated by a college knocked down the autorickshaw in which they were travelling around 4.30 p.m. on Sivakasi-Tiruthangal Road.

The deceased were identified as K. Rajasekaran (40), autodriver from Sivakasi and members of Sri Varatharajaswamy Silk and Handloom cooperative society from Kancheepuram, S. Srinivasan (47) and K. Damodaran (57) and K. Arumugam.

While K. Rajasekaran and S. Srinivasan were killed on the spot, the other two succumbed to injuries at the Government hospital here.

The police said that Arumugam, who was an office-bearer of the society, was also a ruling party functionary. The trio had come to one of the branches of the society ahead of Deepavali festival. The accident occurred when they were proceeding to the Tiruthangal Railway station. The bus hit it from opposite direction. The driver of the bus, S. Murugesan (45), was arrested.

14-year-old dies

In another accident reported in Virudhunagar, a 14-year-old boy, S. Nagarajan of Karuppampatti, was fatally knocked down by a speeding omni bus on the Virudhunagar-Tirunelveli highway near the road over bridge over the broad gauge railway line towards Shencottah.

The police said that Nagarajan had been following his elder brother, S. Marimuthu (18), a polytechnic student, on his bicycle around 5.45 a.m.

Marimuthu was jogging ahead of participating in the police constable selection. While Marimuthu crossed the carriage way swiftly noticing the bus, proceeding to Thiruvananthapuram from Chennai, the younger brother Nagarajan was caught under it.

The bus driver, A. Krishnamoorthy (46) of Thiruvananthapuram, was arrested.