Five persons were killed and 19 others injured in a road accident on the Tiruchi - Rameswaram National Highway when a speeding truck ran over pilgrims who were standing on the roadside near a tea shop at Namanasamuthiram in Pudukottai district in the early hours of Saturday.
According to police, the accident happened around 12.20 a.m. near Sebastiyapuram in Namanasamuthiram police station limits when the driver of a cement-loaded truck, plying from Ariyalur district to Sivaganga district, lost control of the vehicle and hit two tourist vans and a car parked on the roadside and rammed into a tea shop.
The passengers of the tourist vehicles were pilgrims from various places in Chennai and Tiruvallur districts, bound towards Rameswaram and Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala in Kerala. Some passengers were standing near the tea shop when the speeding truck ran over them.
