COIMBATORE: Five persons were killed and seven were injured when a Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) ploughed through people standing at the GP Hospital bus stop on the Sathyamangalam road here on Wednesday.
Two women and a man died on the spot, while another man and woman died without responding to treatment at different hospitals in the city around 3.30 pm. Among others admitted to the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH), the condition of three was said to be serious.
The bus was enroute to Sivananda Colony from Gandhipuram. As it approached the hospital bus stop, people noticed that the vehicle was careening at an odd angle and tried to run away from the spot.
By that time, however, the bus had already run over three persons who were standing unaware, including two women, who died on the spot. They were Seethalakshmi (48) of Ganapathy Pudur, Cathaline Mary (30) of Kasthuribai Street at Ganapathy and Balasubramaniam (50) of 9th street at Gandhipuram.
The bus knocked down and injured several others who were taken by police to CMCH. Some of the injured were Palanisamy (50), Subbu (60), Syed Ismail (45), Ramanan (30), Palaniammal (45) and Sagar (20).
Free flow of traffic was disrupted for more than an hour on the busy road. The Traffic Intelligence Wing (TIW) police said a case had been registered and investigation was on. The bus driver, Govindaraj (27), who joined as a driver one year ago, is yet to be arrested, police said.
As per the orders of Commissioner of Police K C Mahali, the police are investigating whether the accident was caused due to speeding or a mechanical defect.
District collector V Palanikumar visited the spot. Rural industries minister Pongalur N Palanisamy and Mayor R Venkatachalam met the victims’ families at CMCH and consoled them.