Chennai: Three die, one critical as car collides with bus

Chennai: Three people were killed and a young girl of a family was severely injured when the car in which they were travelling collided with a bus at Sirunallur in Kanchipuram district, in the early hours on Saturday.

The accident occurred when Padmavati, 58, wife of late Gunasekaran, a citizen of Singapore and her son, Manikandan, 30, a resident of Mannargudi, Tanjavur district were travelling to Mannargudi to attend a wedding from the Chennai International Airport. Padmavati's son-in-law Velmurugan, 32 and his daughter Trisha, 12, had picked them up from the airport at 11:30 pm on Friday night.

Past midnight, after crossing Melmaruvathur and while crossing Sirunallur, on the GST road along the Chennai-Trichy highway, Velmurugan who was driving the car lost control and the car crossed over the median onto the other side. At the same time, an Omnibus which was travelling on the other side rammed head-first into the car, causing a major collision.

Padmavati, Manikandan and Velmurugan died on the spot, police sources said, while Trisha was rescued with severe head injuries. "Passersby immediately alerted the police and 108 ambulance services were rushed to the spot. They rescued Trisha and sent her to a hospital in Melmaruvathur for treatment," a police officer said.

Five others who were travelling in the Omnibus were also injured and sent to a hospital for treatment. "Trisha has sustained severe head injuries and has been kept in the ICU. The other five were treated and sent back home," the police said.

The Kanchipuram police have registered a case and further investigations are on to ascertain the cause of the accident. The GST road, especially the Chennai-Trichy highway stretch, is notorious for deadly accidents. The possibility of accessing CCTV footage for investigations is also grim as there are no cameras in the area, a police officer said.