Two persons were killed and six others, including the pilot and a nurse of an 108 ambulance, were injured when the speeding ambulance hit from behind a private bus on Karur-Dindigul highway near Vedasandur on Wednesday.
The ambulance was rushing two accident victims from Vedasandur Government Hospital to Dindigul Government Medical College Hospital. Even as the ambulance was closely following the speeding private bus, the driver of the bus suddenly stopped the vehicle in the middle of the carriage way in front of a mill at Vittalnaickkenpatti to enable a few passengers to get down.
The pilot of the ambulance, Sankar, could not avoid hitting the bus as a truck was passing through on the other lane and as a result, the ambulance rammed the bus at around 3.30 p.m., Vedasandur Deputy Superintendent of Police M. Magesh said.
In the impact, the front portion of the ambulance was badly damaged and the patients, their caretakers and two staff from Vedasandur GH, sustained injuries.
However, Palanisamy, one of the accident victims, and his relative, Veerakumar, succumbed to their injuries on the spot.
Mr. Sankar, nurse Sathya, another accident victim, Natarajan, and his relative Banupriya, and Vedasandur GH employees Sumathi and Murugesan were injured.
Sumathi and Natarajan were referred to Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai. Dindigul Superintendent of Police V. R. Srinivasan inspected the scene of accident.
Bus driver Ramesh Kumar has been picked up by the police.
