Four persons were killed and two others seriously injured when an SUV had a head-on collision with a truck on Madurai-Melur highway near Vellaripatti on Wednesday late night.
Police identified the deceased as P. Sathish Kumar (23), R. Anbarasan (27), S. Nandakumar (30) and G. Veerapandian (37), all from Karaikudi. Two others, also travelling in the SUV, S. Somasundaram (48) of Karaikudi and K. Mani (24) of Kadaladi in Ramanathapuram district, sustained injuries. They have been admitted to a private hospital.
The police said that the victims were proceeding to Tiruchendur when the speeding SUV hit a cracker-laden truck. The truck was going to Chennai from Sivakasi.
With one half of the four-way highway being relaid, the authorities had closed it down for some 500 metres and were allowing two-way traffic on the other half.
“Though tar drums were kept in the middle of the road to divide the two-way traffic on this stretch, the SUV driver, Anbarasan, could not control the speeding vehicle and rammed it into the truck coming in the opposite direction,” said Prohibition Enforcement Wing Deputy Superintendent of Police K. Kumaravelu (in-charge) of Melur sub-division. The incident occurred around 11.15 p.m.
A team of police personnel, led by the DSP and Melur Inspector Muthu, rushed to the spot and rescued the injured.
The police said that truck driver Rajagopal (51) and cleaner Vairasamy (48) suffered minor injuries.
Melur police are investigating.
An SUV collided head-on with a truck on Madurai-Melur highway near Vellaripatti on Wednesday late night
