TIRUNELVELI: Three youngsters were killed after their two-wheeler collided head-on with a TNSTC bus on the Tiruvalluvar bridge in Tirunelveli district early on Sunday.
The deceased were identified by the city police as Lokesh (23), Santhosh (22) and Sadiq (22). Sources said Lokesh was employed at a fuel station in Tirunelveli, while Sadiq worked at a restaurant in Palayamkottai. Santhosh, who was employed at a lathe unit in Coimbatore, had recently come to his grandmother’s house in the city.
“The three friends had gone together on a two-wheeler towards Tirunelveli Junction to have tea when the accident occurred,” said sources.
The TNSTC bus, driven by Raja of Alangulam and bound for Tenkasi, left the new bus stand around 1.15 am. As the bus entered the Tiruvalluvar bridge, the youngsters’ two-wheeler lost control and rammed the bus head-on, sources said.
All 3 riders thrown off vehicle, died on spot
“The impact threw all three riders off the vehicle, leaving them in a pool of blood. The driver and conductor stopped the bus and alerted the police and ambulance service, who arrived at the scene and confirmed that all three had died on the spot,” sources added. The Tirunelveli City Traffic Investigation Wing police retrieved the bodies and sent them to the Tirunelveli MCH for postmortem.
A case has been registered in this regard. In another incident the same day, seven persons, including two children, sustained injuries after their car overturned into a roadside pit near Pudur on the Tirunelveli-Tenkasi four-lane road early in the day. Tirunelveli rural police identified the injured as Selvakumar (35) of Pavoorchatram, his wife Kanimozhi (29), their son Ajay (7) and relatives Nayagam (53), Madhimalar (33), her son Serin Mithran (8), and others. “They were on their way to the Tiruchendur temple from Pavoorchatram when the accident occurred,” sources said.