THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Three people were killed and five injured critically when the car they were travelling in collided with a tanker lorry at TB Junction near Attingal on Sunday midnight. The deceased were identified as Azeem Nasar, 32, Maneesh, 29, and Prince, 28 -- all natives of Kalluvathukkal in Kollam district.The police said they were returning from Thiruvananthapuram after attending a marriage function. The lorry, carrying milk, was coming from the opposite direction. The two vehicles collided head-on. Under the impact, the car was thrown into a mud bank nearby, where it turned turtle.
The exact reason for the collision is yet to be ascertained. However, the police assume that both vehicles were travelling at a brisk pace and the car driver might have tried to evade a gutter and moved to the wrong side of the road. A local source said a section of the road near the place where the accident occurred was uneven after the construction of a drain. The car driver might have negotiated the rough patch and lost control, the source added.
The Attingal police have taken the lorry driver, Sanal Raj, into custody. “What exactly led to the accident will be clear only after the forensic examination. However, we feel the vehicles might have been travelling at high speeds and the car might have veered to the wrong side,” a police officer said. The police and Fire and Rescue Services personnel had a tough time pulling out the injured from the mangled vehicle. The injured have been admitted to the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital and the condition of some of the injured is said to be critical.