Four persons were charred to death when an Omni bus hit a lorry in the early hours of Friday near Ulundurpet in Villupuram. The accident happened at around 1.30 am when the bus carrying 23 passengers, two drivers and two cleaners was heading towards Trichy from Chennai. As the bus approached the Ajees Nagar junction near Ulundurpet, it hit a lorry carrying cement, which was making a U-turn at the junction.
The impact of the collision caused sparks and the bus caught fire. The flames engulfed the vehicle, charring four persons to death on the spot. Several others were injured.
The people killed in the accident have not been identified yet.
Speaking to TNM, a senior police officer said that a bigger mishap was averted since the passengers escaped through the emergency exit at the back of the bus.
“Coincidentally, it was only the previous night that one of the passengers, a police officer, had clarified with one of the cleaners about the location and the way to use the emergency exit. As soon as the collision happened, he was the first to wake up and open the emergency exit, thereby preventing a more loss of lives,” he said.
Although none of the four persons has been identified, the police officer told that one of the dead could have been a passenger.
“There were 23 passengers and only 22 are alive. Hence I think one of the deceased could be a passenger. Since the front door got latched onto a portion of the lorry in the impact, none of the passengers could have used that portion to get down. Since the fire spread from the front portion of the bus, we suspect that one of the drivers and one cleaner of the bus and the lorry driver died. The other cleaner and driver ran away and saved their lives,” he said.
The injured have been admitted to a hospital and the police have informed the company that operates the bus. The police said that the process of identification of the bodies will begin soon.
This is a developing story