TIRUVANNAMALAI: Seven men were killed when an SUV collided head-on with a government bus near Chengam town in the Tiruvannamalai district on Monday. Police said all of them were workers of a factory near Hosur and were returning after a visit to Puducherry on the Ayudha Puja day.
Five of the deceased are guest workers from Assam and two others are from Tamil Nadu.
Only on October 15, seven were killed near Chengam town on the same Tindivanam-Krishnagiri national highway when a car collided with a lorry.
"We have filed an FIR against the bus driver, and further investigations are on. To prevent further accidents, we are planning to install warning boards and place barricades on this stretch," Deputy Inspector General M S Muthusamy told TNIE.
Police said the TNSTC bus was en route from Bengaluru to Tiruvannamalai and the workers were headed to Hosur in a Tata Sumo carrying 11 passengers. Around 9.30 PM, when the vehicles were on a narrow stretch with a median they collided leading to the gory accident. Police suspect the drivers might have dozed.
While seven on the SUV died on the spot, four others were hospitalised. The passengers of the TNSTC bus and the crew, as well, were however not injured.
The seven deceased men identified by the police are: Bhimaltheerki (26), Niklas (22), Talu (26), Gunjsarayi (24), Narayanan Chetty (35), Kamaraj (29), and Narayan Chetty (35). The four under treatment at Tiruvannamalai Government Medical College and Hospital are: Pikesmurmu (29), Stephen Oro (43), Sadon Orang (25), and Gizmoth (32).