A 9-year-old girl died after she was hit by an overspeeding school van at Vellakkal bus stop on Medavakkam Main Road near Tambaram on Tuesday evening.
Soundarya was a class IV student of a private school in Kovilambakkam. Daughter of Selvanathan, a cobbler, she was a resident of Ambedkar Nagar in Nanmangalam. On Tuesday evening, after returning from school, Soundarya had come to a shop near the Vellakkal bus stop.
She was returning home when the speeding van hit her. The vehicle came to a halt after hitting a pile of bricks lined up on the margins of Medavakkam Main Road. The van driver abandoned the vehicle and fled from the spot. Meanwhile, residents rushed her to a nearby private hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival.
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Angry residents gave vent to their ire by damaging the windshield and windowpanes of the van. A large number of residents squatted on the road and prevented movement of traffic for about 30 minutes.
According to them, the stretch of this arterial road between Medavakkam and Keelkattalai was very unsafe and had become accident prone. No steps were initiated by the police to curb overspeeding and rash driving.
Only after senior officials reached the spot did the protestors disperse.
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The van belonged to a private school in Madipakkam and was returning after dropping students near their homes.
St. Thomas Mount Traffic Police have registered a case and are searching for the driver, police sources added.