New Year festivities in Chennai began on a tragic note on Monday, with five people dead and more than 300 injured in road accidents and related incidents across the city, as per a report in The Times of India.
There was sharp spike in trauma cases between 11pm and 2am according to doctors who said that accidents accounted for 80% of the cases.
An official manning the 108 emergency ambulance service told ToI that in a span of three hours before midnight, 650 ambulances were dispatched across where on a normal day, the count is only 300.
Of the five deaths, two accidents were reported within the city while three others happened in the suburbs.
A 22-year-old man lost his life after a loadvan struck the autorickshaw he was travelling in at Kasimedu. The victim was identified as Dinesh, a resident of Velayutham Street, Thiruvottiyur.
He was returning home after New Year celebrations when the incident occurred. Dinesh died on the spot while two of his friends received injuries.
In Egmore, a motorbike skidded off the road leaving its 29-year-old rider dead. Roymon, a resident of Egmore, was drunk at the time of the incident and died of head injuries.
Another accident was reported in Kancheepuram where a two-wheeler rammed into a tree. The 27-year-old man riding the vehicle died on the way to hospital.
At Baluchetty Chatram on the oustkirts of Chennai, a 19-year-old man died after his bike crashed into a compound wall.
"Both of them were drunk. The accident happened around 9.30pm. The men lay on the deserted stretch for close to five hours," a police officer told ToI.
In the fifth incident, an Anna Nagar resident was killed when his bike crashed into the median.
The report states that till 7am on Monday, the main government hospitals in Chennai viz. Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, Government Royapettah Hospital, Stanley Medical College Hospital and Kilpauk Medical College Hospital, had received 312 injured persons. Out of these, the condition of 53 was serious.