Five persons from a family including an eight-year-old girl and a car driver were killed in a fatal accident near Tindivanam, Tamil Nadu on Thursday. Two children who travelled with the family sustained injuries. The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Edappadi K Palaniswami announced a solatium of Rs 1 lakh to the kin of the deceased.

According to the police, the accident occurred during the wee hours on Thursday at Pathiri village near Tindivanam, about 38 km from Villupuram and all the six bodies were taken to the government medical college hospital for autopsy. The two injured children aged four and nine were being treated at the same facility, the official said.

"It appears the driver slept moments before the mishap at about 5.15 am when the vehicle was on the highway in the periphery of Pathiri village," a police official at the jurisdictional police station told PTI quoting an eye-witness account. As soon as the vehicle hit the tree, the driver lost control, he said.

The family, belonging to a village in Tirunelveli district, were on their way to Kancheepuram where they own a business.

Chief Minister K Palaniswami, condoling the deaths, announced a solatium of Rs 1 lakh each to the kin of those dead. Expressing grief over the accidents, he said, in another road mishap in Pudukottai district, three men died on the spot and the families of these three men would also get an assistance of Rs 1 lakh each.

The Villupuram and Pudukottai district administrations have been directed to provide all necessary assistance to the families of the dead and extend best medical treatment to those injured, he said.

An amount of Rs 50,000 would be provided to severely injured and Rs 25,000 for minor injuries, he said in a statement.