Chennai: A tourist bus ferrying pilgrims from Madurai toppled at the foothills of the Tiruttani Murugan temple, 80 km from the city on Saturday, creating a commotion there. The toppled bus crushed an auto rickshaw, killing the auto driver on the spot. At least 20 passengers including women and children suffered injuries, police said.
The bus with about 40 persons on board had started from Sellur in Madurai on Thursday. After visiting Tirupati, the touring party had come to the Murugan temple in Tiruttani on early Saturday morning. Around 11.30 am, the bus was riding downhill when the accident happened. The bus was supposed to halt at the check post at the foothill when the driver lost control of the vehicle and swerved hard.
“The bus was only a few metres away from the highway. The bus hit an auto rickshaw coming from the opposite direction and crushed it,” said a police officer adding that the auto was mangled.
The bus turned turtle. But, luckily, the passengers inside escaped with injuries. There were no passengers in the autorickshaw and the auto driver, Madan Kumar (30) of Mel Tiruttani was caught under his vehicle. Fire and rescue service personnel rushed to the scene and moved the injured to the government hospital nearby where the auto driver was declared brought dead.
“Some of the injured had to be bundled in bed sheets and taken to the ambulance,” a fire officer said. Locals joined hands with the rescue personnel to clear the toppled bus before police deployed a crane to remove the vehicle from the accident scene. Tiruttani police has registered a case and is investigating.
