TIRUCHY: Five persons were killed and 43 injured after a car collided with a government bus at Kalkothanur near Manapparai on the Tiruchy-Dindigul National Highway on Sunday evening.
The deceased were all passengers on the car, which was coming from Palani. Police said the car’s tyre burst causing the vehicle to jump over the central median into the other lane in which the government bus was travelling towards Dindigal.
The bus driver saw the car approaching and slammed the brakes and pulled the hand brake but was unable to avert the collision. In the impact, the car overturned and fell into a 10-ft pit while the bus turned turtle. Passersby rushed to rescue the passengers before a fire and rescue team from Vaiyampatti reached the spot.
The deceased were identified as P Nagarathinam (36) of Alipatti in Manapparai, M Muthamil Selvan (48), G Manikandan (25), R Ayyappan (20) of K Udaiyapati in Manapparai and S Dheenadayalan (20) of Kulithalai in Karur. They were returning to their village in Manapparai after visiting a temple in Palani.The injured bus passengers were taken to hospitals in Manapparai. A case has been registered at Vaiyampatti police station and probe is on.