New Year celebrations turned fatal in Chennai as the city recorded five deaths and over 120 were injured.
In the first incident, Muthukumar, an AC mechanic who hails from Thanjavur, rammed his two-wheeler into a mini load carrier on Usman Road flyover around 1:30am on Sunday.
A pedestrian, Moorthy, (55), was hit by a vehicle when he was walking near ICF. He was taken to a nearby hospital but was declared brought dead. Police have registered a case at Tirumangalam traffic police, reported The New Indian Express.
Two youths died near Mahabalipuram when their two-wheeler hit a lorry. One of the youths suffered serious injuries and was taken to the hospital. Naveen Kumar, (25), Sadasivan, (25) and Amal Raj, (26) were riding triples when they rammed into a truck which was on its way to Puducherry from Chennai. Both Naveen and Sadasivan died on the spot while Amal Raj was rushed to a government hospital.
An 18-year-old boy who went to Kovalam beach with his friends, drowned. The deceased was identified as Venkatesh and hailed from Andhra Pradesh.
Police personnel were deployed in various parts of the city and on the outskirts to check over-speeding and drunk driving. A senior police official told TNIE that many youngsters were driving triples and a warning was issued to them.
In total, 120 people were injured in road accidents while bursting crackers and in drunken brawls. Many of them are being treated at General Hospital, Government Royapettah Hospital, Stanley Medical College Hospital and Kilpauk Medical College Hospital.
In Coimbatore, police claimed that there were no major accidents. Police stopped the drunken drivers and made them cut the New Year cake. The city police told TNIE that they had decided not to register any cases against youngsters and were using this alternate way. Police commissioner A Amalraj said that there were 22 checkpoints around the city on the major roads and a total of 30 police personnel were deployed at every checkpoint.
In Salem, one person died and one woman was seriously injured late on Saturday. The police said that Chandrakumar, (40), a daily wage worker, went along with his friends on New Year Eve and had liquor. While he was sitting on the sidewall of a well and drinking, he fell into the well and drowned. His friends called the Fire and Rescue Services but he was dead by the time they took out his body.