Twenty passengers died and 28 were injured after a Kerala State Road Transport Corporation bus and a truck collided near Avinashi town in Tamil Nadu’s Tirupur district on Thursday, 20 February.
According to officials, the deceased include 14 men and six women. The bus was on its way from Karnataka’s Bengaluru to Kerala’s Ernakulam.
The bodies were taken to the Tirupur government hospital.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences to the bereaved families.
Most of the casualties are said to be natives of Palakkad, Thrissur and Ernakulam. The bus had 48 seats, all of which were booked.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan instructed the district collector of Palakkad to provide emergency medical care to the victims of the accident.
CM Vijayan also stated that all possible relief measures will be taken, in cooperation with the government of Tamil Nadu and the district collector of Tirupur.
He also deputed his Cabinet colleagues – Transport Minister AK Saseendran and Agriculture Minister VS Sunilkumar – to Tirupur to coordinate relief operations.
The incident took place around 3:15 am in Tirupur's Avinashi when a lorry rammed into the Kerala RTC bus. According to The News Minute report, the Kerala-registered lorry, which was coming from the opposite direction, was attempting to overtake when it lost control, ran over the divider and rammed into the bus.
The bus has been completely damaged in the accident, especially the right side of the vehicle.
The driver of the lorry, Hemaraj, a native of Ernakulam, has been arrested.
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