A ride to check out the new house they had purchased in Trichy turned fatal for a family of 13 as the car in which they were traveling rammed into a parked lorry, killing eight people in the early hours of Sunday.
The accident happened near the Samayapuram Tollgate in the outskirts of the city around 4.15 am on Sunday. The car, a Toyota Qualis, was travelling from Chennai to Trichy when the accident happened. According to the police, the lorry was coming from Nellore in Andhra Pradesh carrying steel load in it. It was parked near the toll gate for the night when the car lost control and hit the lorry. The car shattered into pieces upon the impact, killing eight people on the spot. The Fire and Rescue service personnel rushed to the spot upon hearing the news and rescued five others and sent them to the Trichy government hospital.
The deceased have been identified as Subramani (65), Vijayalakshmi (63), Balamurugan (40), Vijayaraghavan (38), Gomathi (35), Manjunathan (43), Kandasamy (11) and Nivedha (11).
Speaking to TNM, Superintendent of Police, Trichy Ziaul Haque said that the five persons admitted into the hospital were safe.
“All 13 of them belong to Medavakkam in Chennai and the car was coming to Trichy from Chennai when the accident occurred. We have booked the driver of the lorry and taken him into custody. He will be remanded soon,” he said.
The police have also registered an FIR on the lorry driver for parking on the road.