Victims of bus-lorry collision in Namakkal identified

Three people who died in a private bus-lorry collision in the district were identified.

On Friday evening, around 8.30 p.m., a private bus headed to Rasipuram in Namakkal district from Attur in Salem district collided with a lorry in a curve at Koraiyaru bridge near Mettala, killing the drivers of both vehicles and a woman passenger on the spot. 27 other passengers were injured. The injured were admitted to Rasipuram Government Hospital and later a few were referred to Salem Government Hospital. The Adi Dravidar Welfare Department Minister M. Mathiventhan, District Collector S. Uma, and District Superintendent of Police (SP) S. Rajesh Kannan inspected the accident spot and also visited the injured at the hospital.

The Namagiripettai police registered a case and identified the lorry driver as P. Selvakumar (43), a resident of Attur in Salem district, bus driver K. Ravichandran (55), a resident of Murungapatti in Tiruchi district and the passenger as G. Alamelu (55), a resident of Namagiripettai in Namakkal district. After the postmortem, the bodies were handed over to the relatives on Saturday.

Initial reports from police sources indicated that the bus lost control following a burst front wheel. However, the District Collector, S. Uma, directed Regional Transport Officials to investigate the scene. Their inspection confirmed that the accident was not caused by a wheel burst; instead, it resulted from the bus being driven at excessive speed. Due to this overspeeding, the driver was unable to maintain control while navigating a curve, which led to a collision with a lorry, according to sources.

Published - November 23, 2024 07:42 pm IST