MADURAI: Tragedy struck a young couple just 24 hours before their wedding when a fatal road accident claimed the life of a 26-year-old bride-to-be and left the groom hospitalised. M Mariya Belsiya was riding pillion with her fiancé, S Jeba Bastin, on a bike when a car hit their vehicle on the Dindigul-Madurai NH near Vadipatti in the wee hours of Saturday.
Mariya of Sattayanayakanur in Dindigul was scheduled to marry 29-year-old Bastin of Vellakodu, a defence sector employee, at a church in Dindigul on Sunday.
According to police, the incident occurred when the two were on their way to Madurai from Dindigul. Mariya was supposed to appear for a nursing examination at a private college for a vacancy at Madurai AIIMS.
They left on a bike from their locality to the exam centre around 3 am. As the couple was approaching Sanampatti near Vadipatti, a car, which was on its way to Madurai from Coimbatore, allegedly suffered a tyre burst.
Woman killed on spot, condition of fiancé stable
The driver, Sudarsan, lost control of the car and it hit the couple’s bike from behind. In the impact, both of them were thrown off the bike, and Mariya died on the spot, police said.
Passersby rushed Jeba Bastin to Vadipatti government hospital, from where he was later shifted to Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH), Madurai. His condition is said to be stable. Mariya’s body was also shifted to GRH for postmortem examination. Meanwhile, the Vadipatti police have registered a case against the car driver and further investigation is under way.