TIRUPUR: Five persons, who were a part of a group from Valayangadu, Tirupur, on a pilgrimage by foot to Palani, died on the spot after being struck by a TNSTC bus on Dharapuram road early on Tuesday. A woman who was injured in the incident later died in hospital. Four others, including two children, were also injured.
The group of about 40 people, most of them relatives, started their journey from Tirupur to Palani on Monday evening and spent the night at the Kuppannan temple on Coimbatore Road in Dharapuram, the police said.
They resumed their journey at 4 am on Tuesday, and while crossing Varapalayam, a Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) bus plying from Tirupur to Madurai via Dharapuram hit the group, killing five people — Nagarajan (40), Maheshwari (35), Vijaya (30), Kalimuthu (30) and Rajamani (25) — on the spot.
Twenty-five-year-old Shanthi (25), who was grievously injured, was brought to the Government Coimbatore Hospital, where she died without responding to treatment. The four others who sustained injuries were treated at the Dharapuram GH and discharged.
While the reason for the accident remained unclear, the pilgrims claimed they were walking on the mud path beside the road when the bus hit them. Traffic was affected on Dharapuram road for about two hours. The Dharapuram police have registered a case.