14 buffaloes killed, 11 persons injured in collision of two lorries in Dharmapuri

Coimbatore

Police said Vasanthakumar, 42, from Kallakurichi, who was driving a lorry laden with paint tins from Bengaluru to Tiruchy, lost control and rammed into another lorry transporting buffaloes to Kerala from Andhra Pradesh. In the impact, the lorry with buffaloes toppled and 14 animals died out of the total 33 being transported.

Police said Selva Kumar, 40, from Dindugul, who was behind the wheels in the buffalo-laden lorry along with four others Ashok Kumar, 49, from Dindugul, Farooq, 28, Muhammed Basha, 27, and Noor Mohammed, 30, all hailing from Andhra Pradesh suffered injuries.

In the melee, a portion of the house almost collapsed and its inmates Ganesan, 30, his wife Deepa, 26, and their three daughters aged 5, 4 and 3, who were all fast asleep were injured in the incident.

On receiving information, Thoppur police rushed to the spot and sent all the injured persons to Dharmapuri Government Hospital.

Traffic was disrupted for over two hours on the Dharmapuri-Salem National Highways after the accident. The Thoppur police have registered a case and further inquiries are on.