CHENNAI: Four students of a private arts and science college near Chengalpattu died in a road accident on Tuesday when the private bus they were traveling footboard on, veered to avoid hitting a parked lorry. Police said the driver swerved right and the students who were traveling on the rear footboard hit the lorry and died in the impact.
Four others sustained severe injuries. Police secured the drivers of both the bus and the lorry while the bus conductor was absconding.
The deceased were identified as M Dhanush (18), M Kamalesh (19), S Monish (18) and Ravichandran (19). The police said that a private bus heading to Madurantakam was travelling along the Trichy-Chennai Highway.
The four boys, along with the others, were travelling on the footboard of the bus at around 8:45 am on Tuesday morning when the incident happened.
Due to the impact, the four boys fell to the ground and four others sustained severe injuries. Passersby who saw the accident, rescued them and sent them to a government hospital. While Dhanush, Kamalesh and Monish died on the spot, Ravichandran succumbed to his injuries at the hospital.
Upon information, the Melmaruvathur police recovered the bodies and sent them for postmortem. A case was registered and an inquiry is on.
