Dharmapuri: Two accidents stall traffic on Thoppur ghat road

DHARMAPURI: Two accidents on Thoppur ghat road left a dozen people injured and obstructed traffic flow for nearly two hours. In one of the incidents, the brake failure caused a truck to ram into six cars, before coming to a halt, police said.

According to Thoppur Police, on Sunday morning, a truck en route to Salem had arrived on ghat road carrying a load of refrigeration units. While attempting to descend the steep road, the driver lost control of the vehicle and the truck capsized. The refrigeration units fell all over the road disrupting traffic flow. Because of this, the traffic was disrupted for 2 hours. Meanwhile, the driver abandoned the truck and ran away.

Nearly an hour later, as police and toll gate staff were clearing the area, a courier truck driver, frustrated with the slow-moving pace of the traffic, attempted to overtake the vehicles on the road. When he was descending speedily, he noticed that the vehicles had stopped moving and attempted to hit the brakes.

However, the brakes failed and the truck rammed six cars and injured 11 people. While nine people required first aid, two sustained grievous injuries and were taken to the Dharmapuri Medical College Hospital, they said.

Commenting on the accident, tollgate officials said, "During the summer, vehicles, especially heavy-duty trucks, must exercise caution. Because of the heatwave, drivers must regularly check the vacuum levels in their brakes. Because trucks carry heavy loads and often need to hit the brake on the ghat road, it is necessary to keep a check on the brakes. However, truck drivers have been going down the ghat area on neutral to conserve fuel. This is very dangerous, they said.