CHENNAI: A multiple collision around 2 pm on Sunday near the Muttukadu Boat Club, East Coast Road involvng three government buses cost the life of G Lakshmi (59), of Race Course Road, Guindy, and left 38 other passengers injured. Lakshmi was declared brought dead at the hospital.
A spot probe showed that two buses collided head on the narrow bridge which led to another bus bound for Puducherry ramming one of the buses. “Of the buses involved in the first collision, one of the buses was heading to Puducherry from Chennai and the other was coming to Chennai from Chidambaram,” police said.
The bus to Puducherry was already on the narrow bridge, which can take only one bus at a time. The other bus tried to get on to the bridge leading to the accident, police added.
Another government bus behin the Puducherry bus rammed into the bus leading to the multiple collission on the narrow bridge.
The front of the buses in the collision were completely damaged. The Chidambaram-Chennai bus driver, Manikandan, was seriously injured. Lakshmi too was travelling by the same bus, police said.
Kelambakkam police and more than 10 ambulances reached the scene to rescue the injured passengers. Around 38 of them, including the drivers of the other two buses, Chandrasekar and Jothi, were moved to government hospitals in Chennai, Chengalpet and private hospitals.
A majority of the injured were referred to the Government Royapettah Hospital. “Four of the patients – Ganesh (40), Anitha (23), Gunaboosham (59) and Govindaraj (29) – had suffered grievous injuries and were admitted. Around 20 of them were treated as out-patients,” a doctor at GRH told Express.
“Twelve passengers were admitted in various hospitals across the city with grievous injuries,” Kelambakkam police said.
Traffic was affected for more than two hours along ECR after the accident. Kelambakkam police registered a case and are probing.