PERAMBALUR: A retired army man allegedly rammed his car into an SUV near Perambalur in the early hours of Friday. All nine people in the SUV, including a family from Kancheepuram, were killed on the spot. The condition of the army man, who reportedly works as a security staff in Perambalur, is critical.
The accident occurred when the speeding hatchback car driven by 51-year-old ex-serviceman G Sakthi Saravanan reportedly breached the median on Chennai-Tiruchy National Highway and flew into the Chevrolet SUV on the opposite side of the road, at 12.10am near X-Road in Perambalur.
The deceased include 36-year-old businessman N Mohan. Mohan, his wife Lakshmi (28), children Pavithra (14), Navitha (8), and Varadarajan (5) were heading to Kerala with Mohan’s elder brother N Murali (55), relative B Mehala, and drivers V Narayanan (40) and A Bhupathi (27).
N Mohan, who was among the nine killed in the Perambalur mishap, was travelling to Kerala with his family as he reportedly did every year when the accident occurred. His wife, their three children, his brother, a relative and two drivers were killed. Police said most of the members of the family were sleeping when the accident occurred and the Chevrolet SUV they were in was crushed under a car driven by ex-serviceman G Sakthi Saravanan.
Members of public saw the accident and alerted police, fire and ambulance services. Locals pulled Saravanan out of his hatchback and sent him to hospital by ambulance “After we reached, we noticed that all the people in the SUV had died. We had to remove the vehicle exteriors, part by part, using crowbars and pull the bodies out. It was nearly 1.30am when we extracted the last body from the car,” said a fire official, one of the eight Fire and Rescue Service personnel to reach the spot.
All nine bodies were sent to the Perambalur Government General Hospital for autopsy. Saravanan, who was badly injured, was referred to a private hospital in Tiruchy. A case has been registered against him under IPC sections 279 (rash driving), 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others and 304A (causing death by negligence). The case was filed based on the complaint of S Kaliyamurthy who was travelling in a sedan with two of his daughters and a driver.