MADURAI: Five members of a family were killed after the car they were travelling in collided with several vehicles and flipped over multiple times on the Thumbaipatti highway near Melur in Madurai early on Monday. Four others sustained injuries in the collision and are undergoing treatment at government hospitals.
The deceased were identified as K Sriram (32), his wife Ranchana (27), their one-and-a-half-year-old daughter Kiruthika, Sriram’s brother K Balaji (28) and their mother K Rajamery (50), all hailing from Chennai.
Sriram’s father, V Kanagaraj (55), who was also in the car, two bike riders, R Murugan (40) and C Murugan (55) of Sivaganga, and the driver of another car, J Prakash (40) from Madurai, sustained injuries.
Police said the incident occurred around 6.30am when Sriram and his family were on their way to attend a family function in Thoothukudi. Sriram, who was at the wheel, lost control of the car and hit a two-wheeler, driven by R Murugan, from behind.
To avoid further collision, he diverted the car to the right, but crossed over the median and hit another car — driven by Prakash — coming from the opposite direction.
Car driver may have dozed off at the wheel
The car rolled over multiple times before coming to a stop. While five occupants of the car died on the spot, the sixth occupant, Kanagaraj, survived with multiple injuries. He is currently undergoing treatment at Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai.
Both the bike occupants and Prakash were admitted to the Government Hospital in Melur. Police suspect that Sriram may have dozed off at the wheel, leading to the accident. On receiving information, the Melur police along with fire and rescue services personnel extricated the bodies and sent them for postmortem examination. District Collector Nishanth Krishna inspected the spot.