KOTTAYAM: In a tragic incident, four members of a family died when a speeding private bus rammed the car in which they were travelling at Cherumchuvad near Vaikom along Alappuzha-Vaikom road on Tuesday morning.
The deceased were identified as Sooraj Viswanathan, 35, hailing from Manakkaparambil, 10th mile near Udayamperoor in Ernakulam, his father Viswanathan, 65, mother Girija, 61 and Ajitha, 51, sister in-law of Viswanathan. As many as 10 persons in the bus were also injured in the mishap.
The accident took place at 6 am at a junction along Vaikom - Alappuzha road. Both the bus and the car were speeding, and the bus bound for Ernakulam from Vaikom ran over the car that entered the main road from a pocket road jumping signals. The passengers of the car were on the way to a temple at Cherthala.
The bus driver was caught unawares as the car landed in front of it at high speed. After running over the car, the bus went on to hit the compound wall of a way-side property. The mangled remains of the car had to be cut open to take out the four persons trapped inside.
Though they were rushed to hospital, they died on the way. The Vaikom police have registered a case in connection with the accident. Traffic along the stretch was disrupted for more than an hour following the accident. Viswanathan was a retired employee of a cooperative bank.