8 TN engineering students killed as car rams parked lorry on NH-66 in Thrissur
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Thrissur: Eight engineering college students from Tamil Nadu were killed after the car they were travelling in rammed into a stationary goods lorry on National Highway 66 at Kaipamangalam in Kerala’s Thrissur district around midnight on Friday.
The accident occurred at Panambikkunnu Centre, on a stretch of the highway where construction work is underway.
The Tamil Nadu-registered car, carrying all eight occupants, crashed into the rear of the lorry, which had been parked near a diversion created as part of the ongoing highway works.
The collision was severe, completely mangling the car and trapping the occupants inside. Local residents and rescue personnel rushed to the spot after being alerted, and the damaged vehicle had to be cut open to extricate the victims.
Seven of the occupants are understood to have died at the scene, while another victim was rushed to hospital but could not be saved.
Police and emergency personnel subsequently shifted the bodies for further procedures.
The victims were students of P.S.M Engineering College in Dindigul, Tamil Nadu.
Five of those killed have been identified as Vishwa, 20, from Salem; Surya, 20, and Yuvasanjith, 20, from Dindigul; and Santhosh, 20, and Prasanna from Madurai.
Authorities were working to establish the identities of the remaining three victims and inform their relatives.
The car involved in the accident bore Tamil Nadu registration number TN 59 DW 8299.
The circumstances that led to the car crashing into the stationary lorry are being examined. The presence of the parked vehicle near a diversion on the highway construction stretch is also expected to form part of the investigation.
Personnel from the Kaipamangalam police station reached the accident site soon after being alerted and initiated an enquiry.
Police are expected to examine the vehicles and collect other evidence from the scene to establish the precise sequence of events.
The accident comes amid extensive construction and widening work along several stretches of NH-66 in Kerala, where temporary diversions and traffic restrictions have been put in place.
Further details regarding the victims and the circumstances surrounding the late-night collision are awaited as the police investigation continues.
With IANS inputs