Three men were killed and ten persons, mostly women devotees, were injured after a mini-van overturned when the driver tried to avoid hitting a two-wheeler on the Puducherry - Bengaluru Highway (NH 77) near Chengam in Tiruvannamalai on Saturday. Police said that rash driving by the mini-van driver, who was also injured, was the reason for the accident. It was around 2 p.m. on Saturday when P. Paramasivam, 45, C. Mani, 40, and S. Prabhu, 40, — all belong to Then Gounden Pudur village near Chengam and tank operators — were riding on a two-wheeler along the national highway. They were returning from work to have lunch.
The mini-van with women devotees, which was coming in the opposite direction, tried to avoid hitting the men on the two-wheeler when the trio tried to cross the road. As a result, the driver of the mini-van lost control of the vehicle that overturned on the two-wheeler killing all three on the spot. “Due to soaring temperature, the stretch was nearly empty, making vehicles drive by at high speed. The injured persons are being treated at the government hospital in Tiruvannamalai,” said D. Selvaraj, Inspector, Pachal police (Tiruvannamalai). Immediately, passersby and residents alerted the local police and 108 ambulance services, who shifted the injured to the Tiruvannamalai Government Medical College Hospital. Bodies were also taken to the hospital.
Police said that being a new moon day (Saturday), women devotees from Kaveripattinam village in Dharmapuri district had hired a minivan to visit Angalaamman temple in Melmalayanur village near Chengam. The police said that around 20 persons, mostly women, were travelling in the mini-van. A case has been filed by the Pachal police.
