COIMBATORE: The driver of a school bus saved the lives of 20 students in Tiruppur on Wednesday evening as he stopped the vehicle just in time before collapsing due to a cardiac arrest that proved to be fatal. The deceased, Somalaiyappan (49) of KCP Nagar in Vellakoil, worked as the bus driver at a private school in Ayyanur for the last eight months. His wife Lalitha was a helper in the bus, said police.
Like every day, he picked up students from the school and was heading to drop them home on Wednesday evening.
When he was near Vellakoil Police station on the Coimbatore-Tiruchy Road, Somaliyappan suffered chest pain. He managed to park the bus safely by the side of the road and informed his wife and the students before collapsing on the steering wheel. Lalitha and the students sought help from the locals, who rushed him to Kangeyam Government Hospital by ambulance.
However, he was declared brought dead. The body was sent for postmortem. The students were taken to their residence in the same bus by another driver.
CM announces Rs 5L solatium
Expressing deep pain at the death of Semalaiappan, the school bus driver who saved the lives of many children despite experiencing chest pain, Chief Minister MK Stalin on Thursday announced a solatium of Rs 5 lakh to the family of the driver.
Semalaiyappan, hailing from Sathya Nagar in Gangeyam in Tiruppur district was driving the vehicle after the school hours were over.
In a statement here, the CM said “Despite facing severe chest pain, Semalaiyappan parked the school vehicle at a safe place so that the children were safe and breathed his last. We salute his duty consciousness and sacrifice.”