Three killed as car falls off unfinished flyover

An elderly couple Pazhani (65), his wife Navaneetham (50) and their daughter Pavithra (26) from Manimangalam died in the mishap, while Pavithra’s husband Ayyappan and the driver Kandhavel managed to break open the window panel and escape. They sustained grievous injuries.

The family was returning home after attending a function in Minjur around 9.30 pm on Thursday night.

Police said that the driver Kandhavel was not aware that the flyover is incomplete and did not know the route well from the Outer Ring Road. “Despite the presence of barricades, Kandhavel steered the car onto the flyover through a narrow gap. The Innova car dived from a height of 30 feet into a shallow pit filled with rain water near the RTO office. However, Pazhani’s relatives, who followed them in another car, stopped the vehicle a few feet before the flyover,” said a police official.

Sensing trouble, the relatives rushed to the rescue of the victims and were able to move Ayyappan and Kandhavel to a private hospital. The bodies were sent to Ponneri Government Hospital for post-mortem.

Sozhavaram Police have registered a case and are investigating.

Meanwhile, the residents of Red Hills blamed the Highways authorities for the loss of three lives. The construction of the flyover began nearly a decade ago, but it is yet to be finished due to a legal tussle.

Construction activities were last stopped on the flyover nearly one-and-a-half years ago and one of the residents had filed a case against acquisition of his 84-cent land for it. “While there were concrete barricades preventing any vehicle climbing on the flyover, they were recently removed for the shooting of the film ‘Meyaadha Maan’ and were not put back in place,” said a local resident.