Chennai: 14-year-old student fatally knocked down on ECR

Chennai: A 14-year-old girl student was killed and another student was injured on Monday when they were knocked down by a speeding car while they were crossing the ECR to reach a bus stop near Devenerikuppam near Mamallapuram, in neighbouring Kancheepuram district.

The accident threw traffic out of gear for about an hour on ECR upto Mamallapuram Police managed to broker peace with the locals who blocked traffic besides detaining the car involved in the accident with its inmates.

Police said Sneha (14), a class IX student and Jhansirani, (15), a class XI student of a private school in Kovalam were to catch an MTC bus to go to school when the mishap occurred.

The car, heading to Chennai from Puducherry knocked the children over. Sneha died on the spot while Jhansirani who suffered grievous injuries was admitted to a private hospital in Perumbakkam.

The car driver had been detained for questioning and is likely to be charged with rash and negligent driving. The protesters claimed that the vehicles always speed in that stretch ever since the road had been widened.

The locals also demanded that speed breakers be installed to regulate the over-speeding of vehicles. The protesters pointed out that the weekend partygoers from the city always take to rash driving from Pondicherry so as to reach the city on time to go to work. A Kacheepuram police official maintained that the fatal accident was caused due to jaywalking, and not because of over-speeding.