DHARMAPURI: In a bizarre accident, 14 buffaloes died and 11 people sustained injuries after a truck collided with another near Thoppur. According to the police, one P Ashok Kumar from Dindigul was transporting a load of paint from Bengaluru to Tiruchy on a truck.
After reaching near Thoppur Ghat Road during the early hours of Thursday, Ashok lost his control over the vehicle which crashed into another truck, driven by M Selvakumar (42) from Dindigul, transporting over 16 buffaloes from Andhra Pradesh to Kerala. In the impact, Selvakumar’s truck ran into a house, injuring five members of a family — Ganeshan (30), Deepa (25), Vaishnavi (5), Radhika (4) and Dhanushri (3).
Selvakumar and five occupants of his truck — Farooq, Basha, Megha, Bupasha, Noor — also sustained injuries. On information, the police along with the toll plaza staff, came to the spot and rescued the injured, and were taken to the Dharmapuri Medical College Hospital.
The condition of the 11 injured is said to be stable. While the tollgate staff claimed that the accident happened due to the negligent driving of Ashok Kumar, the police officials reserved their comments for later. The police, however, said that a case has been registered against both the truck drivers and an investigation would help ascertain the cause of the accident.