Three persons, including a father-son duo, were mowed down by a speeding lorry in Dharmapuri here on Tuesday.
Superintendent of Police (Traffic) N T Sivadasan said the accident occurred when the bricks-laden lorry lost control after its driver, Arumugham, tried to avoid a collision with a van that suddenly came in its way.
The lorry squeezed past a cement-mixing machine parked on the roadside killing Arasakumar (22), from Attuvaikalpet in Villianur, who was cleaning the machine for Ayudha Puja. The vehicle then hit a motorcycle, running over rider Bharathidasan (53) and his son Thirumalaidasan (26) who hailed from Vanur in Villupuram district of Tamil Nadu. The lorry driver finally managed to bring the vehicle to a halt near the gate of a compound.
Two other persons who were cleaning the cement mixing machine with Arasakumar, Shanmugham (42) and Aiyappan (32), were injured and admitted to the Government General Hospital. A case was registered and the lorry driver was arrested.