: A 43-year-old woman and a two-and-half-year old girl child died and another woman sustained grievous injuries after a lorry lost control, overturned and fell on a van parked on the roadside at Vathalai in the district on Wednesday. Police identified the deceased as R. Rasathi (43) and her granddaughter R. Rakshana. The child’s mother R. Priyadarshini who sustained grievous injury has been admitted to the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital at Tiruchi.
A family of four men, two women and a girl child were returning to Rasipuram in Namakkal district after offering prayers at the Samayapuram Arulmigu Mariamman Temple near Tiruchi when the fatal accident occurred in the afternoon. The van was parked a few metres away from the roadside and the four men went to a tea shop nearby to have tea leaving behind the two women and the child inside the vehicle.
Sources said the driver of the fertiliser-laden lorry which came in the opposite direction apparently lost control and the vehicle carrying several tonnes of the consignment overturned and fell on the van, trapping the two women and the child inside.
The police and public arranged for earthmovers to move the capsized lorry and rescue the victims. Sources said Rasathi and Rakshana died on the spot, while Priyadarshini was rushed to the government hospital. Driver of the lorry M. Ashok (24) was absconding. The Vathalai police are investigating.
