DHARMAPURI: A picnic on the occasion of ‘Aadi Perukku’ festival to Hogenakkal ended in tragedy for a group of friends from Erode district as two youth were killed on the spot and four others were critically injured as their speeding car rammed into a roadside tree.
The youth in the driver’s seat appears to have dozed off on the wheels due to fatigue, leading to the accident. In the early hours of Wednesday, the local residents of Thootil Bungalow in Hogenakkal-Pennagaram road woke up to the loud bang of the car hitting against the tree, besides wails of the group of youth who travelled in the car.
The villagers rescued four youths who were critically injured. The bodies of two persons who died on the spot were recovered from the mangled remains of the vehicle.
According to the police, six friends from Ilavanantham village, near Arasalur in Erode district, 24-year-old K.Dhanapal, 20-year-old T.Sugumar, 31-year-old Goutham, 22-year-old Lingesh, 23-year-old Satish and 22-year-old Naveen Kumar headed for Hogenakkal for a picnic. They worked as electricians in a company.
The injured youth were sent to the Dharmapuri government medical college and hospital after being given first aid at the Pennagaram government hospital here.
