Five Chennai youths killed as car rams into private bus on ECR

In a tragic accident on the East Coast Road in Chennai, five youths lost their lives after their car rammed into a private bus.

According to one report in The Hindu, the incident took place in the wee hours of Thursday at Kadambadi village near Mahabalipuram. All five people riding in the car died due to the impact, the newspaper reports.

The New Indian Express reports that the deceased had been identified as Karthik, 21, a law student from Teynampet in Chennai, Satheesh, 21, a salesperson at a supermarket in Perambur, Nethaji and Thameem, third year botany students at a private college, and Dilip a biotechnology student from a private university. The youths had reportedly gone to Puducherry to visit a friend of theirs.

According to one report in the Times of India, the Chennai-based youth were returning to the city from Puducherry in a Honda Civic when the head-on collision occurred.

While the passengers of the bus helped retrieve the mangled bodies of the students, the driver of the private bus, identified as Raghavan from Chennai, has been held by the police. The bus, which was travelling to Cuddalore from Ennore, was reportedly carrying 50 passengers. Twenty of the passengers have reportedly been injured as a result of the head-on collision with the car.

The injured passengers were reportedly rushed to the Chengalpattu Government Hospital even as police officers continued inquiries.

The rescue operation, aided by personnel from the fire and rescue department, reportedly lasted three hours.

In another accident earlier in October this year, five men died after their car plunged into a gorge in Ooty, Tamil Nadu. The seven men had come to Ooty for sightseeing on September 30. On October 1, they had set out in their car from their hotel and did not return to their rooms. Multiple phone calls from the hotel staff and their relatives went unanswered and an effort to trace them was initiated. Search operations finally found the car in the gorge. While five died, two were severely injured.