Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has tasked District Collector, Palakkad, to rush medical aid and assistance to victims of the accident involving a passenger bus and a multi-axle truck that claimed 19 lives, mostly of Keralites, at Avinashi on the Coimbatore-Salem national highway early on Thursday.
Transport Minister A. K. Saseendran and Agriculture Minister V. S. Sivakumar are on their way to the spot to coordinate relief operations. The government has opened a toll free helpline 9495099910, 7708331194 to provide the public more information about the victims and their status.
The government has ordered an investigation into the incident by the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) Managing Director.
District Police Chief, Palakkad, G. Siva Vikram, and 20 officers are at the accident site coordinating with the local authorities. The Kerala government has sent a fleet of ambulances to Avinashi to bring the bodies of the victims back home.
According to information reaching the State Police Control room here, the dead are mostly from Palakkad, Thrissur and Ernakulam districts.
Three among the 20 injured are in a critical condition. The bodies of the deceased are in the morgues in Tirupur and Avinash Government hospitals. Efforts were on to identify the dead.
The casualties include at least three women. The passengers had boarded the KSRTC bus from Bengaluru to Kerala late on Wednesday.
Officials said the accident occurred around 3.15 a.m. when the container lorry lost control, jumped the divider separating the carriageways and rammed into the side of the oncoming passenger bus. Those on the right side of the bus bore the brunt of the collision.
The police said the container lorry was ferrying floor tiles from Kochi port to Bengaluru. Preliminary reports from Tamil Nadu police suggested a tyre burst had caused the truck to lose control and encroach into the opposite lane. Officials said it was also possible that the driver of the container truck had nodded off. The police said the truck crew had fled immediately after the collision.
