7 devotees from Kerala killed in accident

The incident occurred around midnight when eight persons, of two families from Kottayam, were travelling back to Kerala.

When the car was in Sithalavadampatti, it hit a truck laden with scrap head-on. According to police, the truck driver had driven the vehicle rashly. In the impact, the car got stuck under the truck and police had to remove it with an earthmover.

Four died on the spot and the rest were rushed to hospital.

But two died on the way and one more succumbed at the hospital.

The deceased were identified as Sasi (62), his wife Vijiammal (60), their grandson Abijeet (14) their neighbour Suresh (53), Lekha (51), wife of Suresh, Manu (27), son of Suresh, and another woman, Sajini (52).

In a similar tragedy in Krishnagiri district, three persons from Chennai, including a fourmonthold baby, died when the car in which they were travelling rammed into a stationary fruit-laden truck. One of the deceased, Srinivasan, 58, worked at Madras Atomic Power Station in Kalpakkam.