MADURAI: Six, including a woman, died in a road accident involving a government bus and an omni bus near Vanchinagaram bus stop on the Trichy-Madurai National Highway in Madurai district in the early hours of Monday.
Around 41 passengers were injured, of whom 15 are undergoing treatment as in-patients at Melur GH, Government Rajaji Hospital, and a private hospital in Madurai.
According to police, the deceased were identified as P Anandhararaj (46) of Trichy, G Surya (29) of Trichy, K Mohammed Yasin (60) of Tiruvarur (all three were passengers in the government bus), J Siriyapushpam (56) of Tirunelveli and J Abhraham (40) of Tirunelveli (both passengers of the omni bus). In addition, C Perumal (70) of Kottampatti, who was sleeping at the Vanchinagaram bus stop where the accident occurred. The bodies of the deceased were taken to the government hospital in Melur.
According to police, the accident happened around 3.30 am when the private bus, which was on its way to Marthandam in Kanniyakumari from Chennai, lost control and hit the government bus coming in the opposite direction from Madurai to Trichy after crossing the central median. After hitting the government bus, the private vehicle again crossed the median, returned to its track, and hit the bus stop. Most of the passengers were sleeping when the accident occurred.
Upon receiving the alert, police teams rushed to the spot and private and government ambulances were deployed to shift the injured to hospitals.
DIG Madurai range Abhinav Kumar, SP Madurai N Devanathan, and other officers visited the spot and sped up the rescue operations.
