Koothattukulam: Two students, driver die as tempo hits wall
The bodies were released to the relatives after post-mortem at the Koothattukulam taluk hospital.
Kottayam: Two school kids and the driver of a Tempo Trax were killed when the vehicle carrying the students of Mary Giri CMI Public School, Koothattukulam, met with an accident at Puthuvely near Ramapuram on Monday morning. The deceased are Nayana Dileep, 6, daughter of Dileep, Ann Mariya, 5, daughter of Shiji of Vattaparampil house, and driver Jose Jacob, 50, all belonging to Mutholapuram near Ramapuram. Nayana was studying in the first standard and Ann Mariya in the UKG. Twelve other students were injured and admitted to the Deva Matha hospital, Koothattukulam.
One was shifted to the Medical Trust hospital, Ernakulam. Among the injured are Nandana Dileep, elder sister of Nayana, studying in the fifth standard, and Jobin Shiji, elder brother of Ann Mariya, a seventh standard student. The accident occurred when the vehicle coming from the Elanjy route lost control and crashed against a mound of soil used for road construction at a steep descent on the MC road at Puthuvely junction around 7.40 a.m. The front portion of the vehicle was damaged in the collision.
Jose died on the spot while Ann Mariya and Nayana died at the Devamatha hospital. The students were taken out of the vehicle after cutting it open. Jose who owned the Tempo Trax was plying it for the school on contract. Mr K.K. Suresh Kumar, joint RTO of Uzhavoor, who examined the vehicle, said that the accident was caused by brake failure. Mr N. Babukuttan, CI of Ramapuram, said that he had received the RTO's report. “The students said that the vehicle was speeding,” Mr P.K. Lalu, sub-inpector of Ramapuram police station, told DC. The bodies were released to the relatives after post-mortem at the Koothattukulam taluk hospital. Nayana’s father Dileep is working in Qatar and Ann Mariya’s mother Simili is a nurse in Jiddah.