Coimbatore: As many as six persons, including a college student, were killed and four others suffered injuries in a road mishap near Sundarapuram on the suburbs of Coimbatore on Wednesday morning. Police said the accident took place at around 9.55 am when a speeding Audi car heading towards city went out of control and knocked down people waiting at Iyer hospital bus stop near Periyar statue on Pollachi-Coimbatore road.
The car also rammed into a nearby auto stand, damaging an auto and stopped after hitting an electrical post, killing four women and two men on the spot. They were identified as Amsaveni, 35, of Sundrapuram selling flowers at a roadside petty shop, Subashini, 18, of Sundarapuram studying second year B.Sc-IT in a private college near Peelamedu and waiting at the bus stop, Kuppathal, 70, Rukmani. 65, Sri Rangadas, 65, and Narayanan, 70 of the Kurichi area.
Jagadhesan, 35, working as a driver for the chairman of a private educational institution near Echanari was driving the car. People on the spot thrashed him badly. Police rescued him and sent him to Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) for his minor injuries.
Somasundaram, 65, of Kurichi and Jagadesan, 35, of Coonoor were admitted to CMCH and Suresh, 30, of Kurichi and Natarajan, 65, of Sundarapuram were admitted to a nearby private hospital.
Police sources said that the driver was made to undergo a test at CMCH and confirmed that he was not drunk during the incident. He had driven the car all the way from Bengaluru to Coimbatore after dropping the chairman's daughter there on Tuesday evening. Without rest he was deployed on duty on Wednesday morning too. Police suspect that his drowsiness made him to lose concentration. A complaint has been lodged and further investigations are on.
