Chennai: A woman died and at least 38 others were injured when three government buses crashed into each other on a narrow bridge near Muttukadu on East Coast Road on Sunday afternoon.
The deceased was identified as G Lakshmi, 59, of Race Course Road, Guindy while her husband, Ganesh, 64, who was traveling with her, was admitted to Rajiv Gandhi GH.
According to the police, the accident took place around 1.45 pm on Sunday when a bus from Chidambaram to Chennai collided with a Chennai–Puducherry bus on the bridge. “The Chennai – Puducherry bus was already on bridge when the other bus tried to get on to the bridge.
After the two buses collided head on, a third bus, coming from Chennai smashed against the bus heading towards Puducherry,” the police said quoting eyewitnesses.
The front portions of buses involved in the head-on collision were completely damaged due to the impact. Manikandan, driver of the Chidambaram–Chennai bus, was seriously injured. Chandrasekaran and Jothi, drivers of the two other buses also suffered injuries. Lakshmi, who died, was traveling in the Chidambaram–Chennai bus.
Of the 38 passengers, at least 22 are seriously injured while others had suffered minor injuries. Most of the injured were admitted to government hospitals in Chennai while a few were referred to two private hospitals in the city.
With a huge crowd of onlookers and other motorists near the accident spot, the traffic was help up for more than two hours on ECR.
