The Hindu : Nine killed in road accidents

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 08, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Nine killed in road accidents

By Our Staff Reporter

THRIUVANANTHAPURAM, FEB. 7. Nine persons were killed and two others injured in three accidents in the State today.

Six persons, including four women of a family and an infant, were killed when the autorickshaw in which they were travelling was crushed under a tanker lorry, which toppled after losing control, on the National Highway at Pallichal on the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram city.

The police identified the deceased as Santha, Kala, Kala's 20-day-old baby boy,

Radha and Biju, the driver of the autorickshaw. All are residents of Dhanavachapuram. Santha is a nurse attached to the SAT Hospital. The police said the deceased were returning from the hospital when the accident occurred at 12.05 p.m. A four-year-old girl, Sivapriya, who was sleeping in the house on the roadside against which the lorry dashed before overturning, was injured along with the tanker lorry crew. They have been admitted to the Medical College Hospital.

The Superintendent of Police (Rural), Balaram Upadhyaya, told The Hindu that the police had learnt that the driver and the cleaner had consumed alcohol at Neyyatinkara nearly 30 minutes before the accident occurred.

According to the police, the lorry first dashed against a coconut tree, then spun out of control and hit a house on the right side of the road before toppling over. "The autorickshaw driver had moved to the extreme left to avoid being caught under the toppling lorry. The mangled remains of the auto rickshaw were found beneath the middle part of the tanker," an official said.

All the occupants of the auto died on the spot. The bodies retrieved from beneath the lorry were crushed beyond recognition.

The police said that the initial reconstruction of the accident was based on the version given by the cleaner. The Deputy Inspector-General of Police (Thiruvananthapuram Range), Arun Kumar Sinha, who oversaw the rescue work, said that forensic and technical experts would be roped in to aid the accident investigation.

Our Staff Reporter writes from Kottayam: Three persons were killed and one was seriously injured in two accidents in the district today. An accident involving a tipper lorry and an autorickshaw claimed two lives in the heart of the town. According to the police, the auto driver and the passenger were crushed to death when the auto was caught between a side wall and the tipper lorry which lost control and overturned.

The second accident occurred at Kodungoor when a LCV hit a bike. Tomy (18) of Vettikugal, near Ettumanur, who was travelling on the bike, lost his life. His pillion rider Jomey (23) has been admitted to the Kottayam Medical College Hospital.

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