Three die, 7 injured as two cars collide

The driver of one car tried tried to avoid a two-wheeler and hit another car

The two cars which collided near Venkitapuram on Salem-Kochi highway in Coimbatore on Saturday.

Three persons were killed and seven injured when two cars collided near Venkitapuram junction on the Salem-Kochi highway here on Saturday.

The names of the dead were given as S. Gowtham, 24; C. Chidambaranath, 24, from Cheran Maa Nagar; and A. Gokulnath, 22, from Irugur. They were travelling in a car along with friends Aravinth, Salman Faris, and Vigneshwaran.

The police said that the accident occurred around 9.45 a.m. when they were returning after playing cricket on a ground near Venkitapuram.

As their car reached Venkitapuram, it tried to avoid a two-wheeler and collided with another car which was going towards Madukkarai.

The police said the accident happened when the car driver tried to avoid hitting a two-wheeler being driven by V. Surya, 25, a mechanic.

The car took a sudden turn and was hit by another car belonging to a private university.

Vinith was driving the university car. Mr. Vinith was returning to Madukkarai after picking up Mohit Gupta and Subijit Dev from Coimbatore International Airport.

The three dead and injured — Aravinth, Salman Faris, Vigneshwaran, Vinith, Dev, Gupta and Surya — were shifted to a private hospital by other motorists.

While Gowtham was doing postgraduation at a private college in the city, Chidambaranath and Gokulnath were working in an information technology company.