Tamil Nadu: 20 killed as Ernakulam-bound KSRTC volvo collides with container lorry

Twenty
people, including five women, were killed, and more than 16 injured in head-on
collision involving a Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) bus and a
container lorry at Avinashi near Coimbatore in the wee hours of Thursday.

The accident
took place around 3:15am when the Ernakulam-bound KSRTC Garuda Volvo air-bus
from Bengaluru collided with the Kerala registration lorry. The deceased have
been identied as Vinod, 42, Christopher, 25, Nivin Baby and Rahim from
Thrissur, and Sona Sunny from Palakkad.

 The driver and the conductor are also among
the dead. The injured have been admitted to Avinashi Hospital and Coimbatore
District Hospital. Out of the 48 passengers onboard the bus, 25 reserved seats
for Ernakulam, 19 for Thrissur and 4 for Palakkad. The Kerala registration container
lorry carrying floor tiles crashed over the divider after a tyre burst and
rammed into the bus, according to some eyewitnesses. “The KSRTC MD is
monitoring the situation,” Kerala Transport Minister A.K. Saseendran said

The KSRTC
bus number 784 had left for Bengaluru from Ernakulam on Monday and was supposed
to return by Tuesday night. However, the journey was postponed to Wednesday
night as there were not enough passengers.

The bus was
scheduled to reach Ernakulam at 7am on Wednesday. In another accident at Tamil
Nadu’s Salem, five people were killed as a tourist bus from Nepal collided with
a lorry. 26 people were injured in the accident.