Six Palani pilgrims killed as bus ploughs into crowd in Tirupur

TIRUPUR: At least six pilgrims including three women proceeding to the famous Sri Dandayuthapani Swamy temple in the hill-town of Palani were killed, five of them on the spot, when a State-owned Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) bus ploughed through a crowd near Dharapuram in Tirupur district in the early hours of Tuesday.  

The terribly tragedy happened when a group of 50 people from Tirupur were walking to Palani Murugan temple on a pilgrimage. They had left their homes on Monday and stayed at Dharapuram on Monday night, to resume their walk on Tuesday morning, police said.

When the pilgrims were approaching Kadhaphulla Patti, a TNSTC bus lost control and mowed through the group. In this ghastly road mishap, Vijaya, 54, Kalimuthu, 35, and Nataraj, 30, from Valayankadu, Maheswari, 30, from Murungampalayam and Rajamani, 42, from Avinashipalayam were run over by bus. They succumbed to injuries on the spot.

On information, Dharapuram police rushed to the spot and rescued three more injured persons and admitted them to the Dharapuram government hospital.
Later, Shanthi, 45, one of the injured was sent to Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital. But she died on way to hospital.

The Dharapuram police have begun investigation with the bus driver Thamilarasan. According to police, the bus driver tried to overtake a lorry and lost control. A case was registered and further investigation
is on.