THANJAVUR: Nine persons were killed and 18 others suffered injuries when a TNSTC bus rammed a goods carrier on Friday night.
According to police, the bus belonging to TNSTC Palladam depot was on its way from Tiruppur to Kumbakonam on Friday. When it was on the over bridge near Vallam on the Tiruchy-Thanjavur national highway, the mini van loaded with iron angles going ahead took a right turn without any signal. In the impact, the angles protruding from the van pierced the bus causing fatal injuries to the passengers.
Six persons including the bus driver Ravichandran, driver of the van Sathiskumar, passengers M Poongulali (40), M Arulmozhi (38) of Maruthamuthu Nagar in Kumbakonam, D Malini (19) of Irudhayur near T Pazhur in Ariyalur died on the spot.
Of the 21 passengers rushed to the Thanjavur Medical college hospital two persons, including a woman, were declared dead on arrival and their identities could not be established. Hemalatha (28) succumbed to injuries. The injured include Priyadarshini (20), Varadarajan (36), Priya (24), Suganthi (25), Bhuvana (20), Janakiraman (57), Rajasekar (20), Sagunthala (20), Suganya (26), Dineshkumar (22), Mohammed Abdul Rashid (59), Rajamani (45), Atchaya (18), Kumar (18), Sivakumar (23), Dharmarajan and Arul Selvi (17).