Two killed, three injured as car hits roadside tree in Coimbatore

Coimbatore: Two people were killed and three others injured after the car they were travelling in crashed into a roadside tamarind tree on Mettupalayam-Sathyamangalam road at Pethikuttai near Sirumugai here in the early hours of Friday.The Sirumugai police said the incident took place when five people from Chamarajanagar district in Karnataka were returning to their houses after visiting Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple in Kerala."They went to the Sabarimala temple two days ago. After washing lord Ayyappa, they started their return journey. N Swami, 40, of Kollegal in Chamarajanagar, was at the wheel of the car. When they reached Pethikuttai near Sirumugai in Coimbatore around 5.50am on Friday, Swami dozed off for a few seconds. He lost control over the car, which crashed into a roadside tree. Two of the passengers died on the spot," a police officer said.He identified the deceased as T Nagaraj, 58, of Kollegal in Chamarajanagar, and Venkata Aathari, 62, of BR Hills in Chamarajanagar. According to the officer, three other passengers, identified as C Mahesh Kumar, 44, P Duraisamy, 61, and N Swami, 40, all natives of Kollegal in Chamarajanagar, sustained injuries in the incident. Other motorists alerted the Sirumugai police, who rushed to the spot and sent the injured to hospital. The bodies were sent to the Mettupalayam govt hospital for postmortem. The Sirumugai police have registered a case and further investigation is on.