CHENNAI: Five people died in two separate road accidents near Tiruttani in Tiruvallur district within 24 hours.
Early on Monday morning at Arcot Kuppam, two men from Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh - Shajahan (50) and his brother Humayun (70) - died after the car they were travelling in rammed into a stationary tipper lorry. The car was driven by Humayun’s son Habib. He also sustained injuries in the accident.
The police said they were enroute to Chennai to seek emergency medical care for Humayun, who was critically ill when the car rear-ended the lorry parked on the roadside.
Fire and rescue teams who arrived at the spot pulled the three men out of the mangled car and sent them to the Tiruttani Government Hospital. Police said Humayun had died on the spot and Shajahan succumbed to injuries a few hours later.
The Kanakammachatram police have registered a case and are questioning the lorry driver. Earlier on Sunday evening, three from a family died and their driver critically injured, after a car crashed into a tamarind tree near SP Kandigai in RK Pet.
The deceased have been identified as Stalin (40), Sampath Kumar (38) of Krishnagiri, and Kannagi (50) of Namakkal. They were returning from Nallattur after attending a funeral in a car driven by Karthik, a driver they had engaged.
Around 5 pm, while on the way to Hosur, the car veered off the road and hit the tree. Stalin and Sampath died on the spot; Kannagi died while being taken to the Tiruttani Government Hospital. Karthik is currently undergoing intensive care treatment at Rajiv Gandhi Government Hospital in Chennai. The RK Pet police have registered a case and an inquiry is underway.