Seven women dead, in van-lorry collision on Chennai-Bengaluru highway

In a tragic accident on the Chennai-Bengaluru Highway (NH 44), seven women lost their lives in the early hours of Monday. The incident occurred in Tamil Nadu's Sandaipalli village near Tirupattur district's Natrampalli town at approximately 2:40 am. The accident also left ten individuals injured, including the drivers of the tourist van and the lorry, with five of the injured being women.

The victims have been identified as M. Meena (50), D Devayani (32), P Saittu (55), S Devika (50), V Savitri (42), K Kalavathi (50), and R Geetha (34), all hailing from Vellore's Pernambut. The group had rented two tourist vans for a trip from Pernambut to pilgrim and tourist destinations in Karnataka's Mysore over the weekend.

On their return journey, one of the vans experienced a punctured front wheel on the highway. The women disembarked from the van and sat on a low-rise concrete median near the vehicle, with its hazard and other lights functioning. Meanwhile, the lorry driver, 34-year-old P Arunachalam, was transporting smartboards for classrooms from Bengaluru to Chennai. Arunachalam failed to notice the stationary van and collided with it from behind, causing it to topple onto the women, resulting in their immediate deaths.

The Natrampalli Police and NHAI patrol vehicles arrived promptly at the scene to assist the injured. The injured individuals were transported to the Government Medical College Hospital in Krishnagiri, Tirupattur, and the Government Taluk Hospital in Vaniyambadi. The deceased bodies were transferred to a government hospital in Tirupattur.

The Natrampalli Police have initiated an investigation into the incident.