Two Class XII students killed, youth injured as truck hits two motorcycles near Erode

ERODE: Two Class XII students were killed and another person was critically injured after a truck collided with the motorcycles they were riding near Anthiyur in Erode district on Friday night.The Anthiyur police identified the accident victims as Jeevan Prasad, 17, son of Chinnadurai Poonaikkal Medu, and Dev, 18, son of Manikandan from Kamaraj Nagar in Bhavani. Students of a private higher secondary school at Anthiyur, the duo were awaiting their Class XII board exam results.According to a police officer, the accident occurred around 8pm near Annaimaduvu sub-station when a truck travelling from Anthiyur to Ammapettai allegedly hit the bike the duo were riding. “The students were thrown off the vehicle, sustained severe head injuries and died on the spot,” the officer saidAnother bike rider, Prem, 27, of Oonchapalayam near Ammapettai, who was travelling behind them, was also hit by the truck and sustained serious injuries. He was taken to a private hospital in Coimbatore, where his condition is said to be stable.When alerted, the Anthiyur police recovered the bodies and sent them to the govt hospital in Bhavani for postmortem. Police have identified the truck driver, who caused the accident, as K Ayyappan, 53, of Nangavalli in Salem district, and launched a manhunt for him.