6 killed, 12 hurt as bus rams truck

CHENNAI: Six passengers were killed and 12 others were injured when a Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) bus smashed into the rear of a trailer truck at Dargha Medu near Sriperumbudur on the Chennai-Bangalore national highway early on Wednesday.
Police said the bus, which left the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus in Koyambedu at 2am, was on its way to Tirupattur in Vellore district when it ran straight into the truck that was taking a U-turn.The right side of the bus was ripped off in the accident that occurred around 3.45am. The truck was headed to a godown to take a windmill rotor blade.
Police arrived at the spot with emergency teams and moved the bodies to Sriperumbudur General Hospital. Some of the injured, including bus driver C Anbu of the Tirupattur depot, were taken to General Hospital in Chennai, while the others were moved to Government General Hospital in Kancheepuram. Traffic on the busy highway was affected for more than two hours as police struggled to remove the wrecked bus.
The dead were identified as Gomathi, 47, of Teynampet, V Shivashankaran, 35, a joint general manager at the Heavy Vehicles Factory in Avadi, Satish, 32, of Wallajapet, Singaravelu, 31, of Thiruvottiyur, B Arunachalam, 31, of Katupakkam and M Rajavelu, 23, of Vaniyambadi. The other injured are Ganesh, son of Gomathi, Sangeetha, Ashok Kumar, Kavitha, Jayalakshmi, Murugaiyan, Thavasi, Pushpanandan, Saravanakumar, Muththaali, Shivaji and Anbu.
Kancheepuram superintendent of police C Vijayakumar told TOI, “It was a horrific accident. The entire right side of the bus was wrecked. We suspect the bus driver fell asleep at the wheel. We have arrested the trailer driver and are questioning him.”
Police said motorists often travel at high speeds and overtake other vehicles leading to accidents. Residents have repeatedly requested for speed breakers along the stretch.
Last month, two software engineers from Kerala were killed in an accident near the same spot as Wednesday’s incident. Arjun, 23, and Korath Sunny, 23, who worked in Bangalore, had come to meet a friend in Sunguvarchatram and were returning to their hotel when their motorbike was hit by an unknown vehicle.