In a tragic road accident, six persons, who were travelling in their car from Courtallam to Tenkasi, died on the spot after a cement-laden truck reportedly collided at Singilipatti-Punniahpuram stretch at 3.30 a.m. on Sunday, January 28, 2024.
Police said that the truck driver was transporting cement and suffered injuries.
Preliminary inquiries revealed that Patturaja alias Karthik (27), Vel Manoj (29), Pothiraj (28), Subramanian (27) and Mukesh alias Manoj (27) from Bagavathi Amman Koil Street, Puliangudi and Muthamizh Selvan (29) of Palani were travelling in the car.
On Saturday night, they had left their homes to Courtallam in the car. After spending a couple of hours in the waterfalls, they left towards Tenkasi. At around 3.30 a.m., the cement-laden truck is said to have hit the car at Singilipatti-Punniahpuram point.
In the impact, all the six occupants were killed on the spot, police said and added that they had a tough time in removing the bodies from the car, which was badly damaged in the collision. The Fire and Rescue Service personnel helped in getting the bodies from the vehicle and sent for post-mortem.
The traffic on the stretch was blocked for over 30 minutes. Tenkasi Superintendent of Police T.P. Suresh Kumar visited the accident spot and supervised rescue operations with his team of personnel.
The truck driver, identified as Prakash from Tiruvannamalai district was convalescing in a hospital. Puliangudi police are investigating.
CM condoles deaths
In a statement, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, who is in Spain, condoled the deaths of six persons in the accident and further announced a solatium of ₹2 lakh from the Chief Minister’s Public Relief Fund to family members of each of the deceased.
