Four friends die after speeding car rams into truck near Kovalam
CHENNAI: Four youngsters died on the spot after their speeding car crashed into the rear of a stationary mini-truck at Semmancheri kuppam near Kovalam on the East Coast Road (ECR) about 30 km from Chennai at around 5:30 am on Wednesday, police said.
The deceased were identified as Sultan (23), Ashraf Mohammed (22), Akhil Muhammed (19) and Muhammed Ashik (19) who are residents of Royappetah in Chennai but originally hail from Coimbatore, a police officer said. The men are related to each other.
Ranganathan (55), the driver of the truck, which was in the middle of the road as it had broken down, has been arrested by the Pallikaranai Traffic Investigation Wing (TIW) as he did not switch on the warning signs.
The car was travelling from Mamallapuram towards Chennai at such a high speed that the truck turned 180 degrees due to the impact, the cop said. The car was crushed under the truck and fire services personnel from Siruseri had to be called to pull the bodies out from the debris using a crane.
The bodies were sent to the Chengalpattu government hospital for post-mortem, police said.
Traffic cops are currently clueless about other details regarding the deceased, including the speed at which the car was travelling. A cop said that CCTV footage will be collected from private establishments near the accident spot regarding the case.
Traffic was disrupted for a couple of hours on this stretch of the highway for a few hours while cops retrieved the bodies, the cop said.