CHENNAI: Three persons, including a one-year-old boy, were killed after a speeding lorry rammed their car which was waiting at a signal in Singaperumal Koil late on Monday night. The family, natives of Madurai, was returning home after attending a function in Chennai.
The Guduvanchery Traffic Investigation Wing (TIW) police said a family of six persons — Karthick (35), his wife Nandhini (30), their children K Ilamathi (7) and K Sai Velan (1), Nandhini’s parents Ayyanar (65) and Deiva Punjari (60) — had come to Chennai from Madurai in a sedan driven by Saravanan (35). The family attended the function and was returning to Madurai. Around midnight, they stopped at a signal behind a lorry on the Chennai-Tiruchy highway. In a few minutes, another lorry that was coming behind rammed their car. In the impact, the car crashed into the lorry that was waiting in front of it and was sandwiched between the two vehicles, police said.
Saravanan and Ayyanar sustained grievous injuries and died on the spot. Passers-by alerted the police and called an ambulance. The five injured persons were rushed to a government hospital in Chengalpattu, where Sai Velan died. The bodies were sent for postmortem. The survivors suffered serious injuries and are being treated at the Chengalpattu GH.
The driver of the lorry that came from behind has been detained, police said, adding that he was also being treated for minor injuries. “It is not clear how he lost control of the lorry. We are waiting for him to recover to investigate further,” a police officer said.
The driver of the other lorry has also been detained.