KOTTAYAM/MALAPPURAM/THRISSUR: Nine persons, including a one-month-old baby, died in separate road accidents in the state. While four persons died in Malappuram district, three lost their lives in Kottayam and two in Thrissur. In Kottayam, two persons died and three others were injured when the car in which they were travelling rear-ended a tipper lorry parked on the roadside at Manimala along the Punalur-Muvattupuzha state highway around 6am on Monday.
The deceased are Sharon,17, of Kizhhakkemuriyil House, Ilangoy, and Reshma George, 30, of Thadathilangal House, Champathal, Vazhoor. A critically injured person has been admitted to a private hospital in Kottayam, while the other two are under treatment at the government taluk hospital, Kanjirappally.
According to the police, the group was returning after attending a function in Ranni. According to the preliminary analysis, the accident might have occurred after the driver fell asleep. In another accident in Kottayam district, a woman cleaning staff of a private hospital in Thalayolaparambu died when an ambulance overturned at Vypinpady junction near Vaikom Valiyakavala around 9am on Monday.
The deceased is Sanjana, 35, a native of Vadayar, Vaikom. The woman, along with other employees of the hospital, was coming to the hospital in the ambulance because of the hartal. Police said the ambulance lost control while the driver was trying to evade a speeding car coming from the opposite direction and hit an electric pole and a roadside wall. Sanjana was thrown off the vehicle in the impact. Three others suffered injuries in the accident.
In Malappuram, two women — both natives of Kadavanad in Ponnani and staff nurses of different hospitals — died when the car in which they were travelling collided with a lorry at Veliyancode on Monday. The deceased are Susha, 35, and her sister-in-law Radhabhai, 60. Three car passengers and two in the lorry sustained injuries.
In another accident in the district, a one-month-old baby died when the car in which the child, along with parents, was travelling collided with a lorry at Kozhichenna near Edarikod on Monday. The parents and caretaker of the baby have been admitted to a private hospital with injuries.
A TV journalist died when a car hit the two-wheeler he was riding at Puzhambram near Ponnani on Sunday night. The deceased, Muthirapparambil Vikramadithyan, 43, a programme director of NCV News in Ponnani, was returning home after work when the accident happened around 11pm. After hitting Vikramadithyan’s two-wheeler, the car, which was allegedly speeding, rammed an electric post and hit another bike with two riders, said police. The accused driver, Unais, 30, was taken into custody and remanded on Monday.
In Thrissur, two youths died when two motorbikes that were going in the same direction hit each other near the new bridge at Villadam around 9pm on Sunday. The deceased Dileep, 25, of Kanjirathinkal House, and Ashkar, 21, of Kottayattil House, were on the same bike. Two others on the other bike were injured.
The four friends were travelling to Kundukadu. According to Viyyur police, the motorbikes lost control when the handles of the two vehicles hit each other. One bike hit the electric post on the roadside and then rammed a compound wall of a house. One of the injured is critical.