Five persons killed after two buses collide near Vaniyambadi town
The Hindu
Five killed in SETC bus-omni bus collision in Tirupattur. Driver drowsiness suspected. Victims incl. woman, drivers of both buses. 64 injured, four shifted to Vellore hospital. Traffic disrupted, 65 police personnel deployed. Collector, SP, MLA inspected spot, case registered.
Five persons including a woman were killed after the State Express Transport Corporation (SETC) bus collided with a omnibus on the elevated bridge of the Chennai-Bengaluru Highway (NH 44) at Chettiyappanur village near Vaniyambadi town in Tirupattur on Saturday. Police said that drowsiness of the deceased government bus driver might be the reason for the accident.
Police said the deceased were identified as Mohammed Fairoz (37), a resident of Vaniyambadi, S. Rithika (32), a resident of Guduvanchery near Chennai, K. Elumalai (47), a resident of Ulundurpet (Kallakurichi), B. Ajith (25), a resident of Chittoor (A.P) and N. Syed Mumtaz (42), a resident of Kolar (Karnataka). Among the deceased, Ellumalai and Syed were the drivers of government and omni buses respectively.
Of 64 injured persons, mostly passengers, four have been shifted to the Government Medical College Hospital in Vellore for treatment whereas the rest were treated at the Government Taluk Hospital in Vaniyambadi.
Police said that the SETC bus was heading towards Chennai from Bengaluru on the national highway when the bus driver lost control of the vehicle and hit the omnibus, which was coming in the opposite direction and was heading towards Bengaluru from Chennai, after smashing the steel median on the elevated bridge of the highway. In the impact, four persons including a woman (S. Rithika) and the government bus driver (K. Elumalai) died on the spot while Syed died on the way to hosptial in Vellore. The incident occurred at 4.40 a.m on Saturday.
Immediately, along with patrol police, residents and passerby rescued the injured persons and alerted the Vaniyambadi Taluk police. Initially, the injured persons were shifted to the Government Taluk Hospital in Vaniyambadi town, around 10 kms from the accident spot.
Traffic was hit on the highway and around 65 police personnel were roped in for traffic regulation.
Tirupattur Collector D. Bhaskara Pandian, the Superintendent of Police (SP) Albert John and Vaniyambadi MLA, G Sendhil Kumar, inspected the accident spot and met with the injured persons and their families at the government hospital in Vaniyambadi town. A case has been registered by Vaniyambadi Taluk police. An investigation is underway, police said.
While residents are worried over deaths due to diarrhoea in Vijayawada, officials still grapple to find the root cause. Contaminated drinking water supplied by VMC officials is the reason, insist people in the affected areas, but officials insist that efforts are on to identify the disease and that those with symptoms other than diarrhoea too are visiting the health camps.