Six people, including a passerby, were killed and 22 others injured after a private bus collided head-on with a government transport corporation bus early on Monday in Madurai district, police said.
A senior police officer said that the incident took place near Kottampatti at around 4 am. The driver of the private bus, which was on its way to Marthandam in Kanyakumari district from Chennai, lost control of the vehicle and collided with the government bus, which was coming in the opposite direction from Madurai to Tiruchirappalli.
The deceased have been identified as: P Anandaraj (46), G Surya (29) and K Muhammad Yasin, passengers of the government bus, G Siripushpam (56) and G Abraham (40), passengers of the private bus, and C Perumal (71), who was sleeping under the bus stop into which the private bus collided before it stopped. They added that the police have registered a case in this regard and the investigation is underway.
The injured were shifted to the district government hospital in Madurai, where seven of them are undergoing treatment for serious injuries, police said
In an official statement, Governor Arlikar expressed his condolences and prayed for the speedy recovery of the injured.
In an official statement, Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay announced that the families of those killed would receive them $3 lakh each under the Prime Minister’s General Relief Fund. Those who suffer serious injuries are entitled to an amount of $1 lakh each, and those with minor injuries will receive it $50,000 each.
