Eight engineering students from Tamil Nadu killed in road accident in Kerala | Kochi News
Thrissur: Eight engineering students from Dindigul in Tamil Nadu were killed when the car in which they were travelling rammed a parked truck at Kaipamangalam-Panambikunnu in the coastal area of Thrissur around midnight on Friday.The victims were a mix of mechanical and civil engineering students from PSNA College of Engineering and Technology, Dindigul, as well as their friends. They were reportedly on a pleasure trip to Kerala.The names of six of the victims have been identified. They are Santhosh G (20), son of Gurukula Krishnan of Sathyapuram, Navinipatti, Melur, Madurai; Prasanna R (20), son of Ramkumar of Ramnod Main Road, Viraganoor, Madurai; Viswa V (20), son of Vasanth Kumar of Puthunalla Goundarpatty, Salem; Surya I (20), son of Iyyappan of Valakkaipatti, Adiyanuthu, Dindigul; Yuvasanjith K (21), son of Karthikeyan of Anna Nagar, Dindigul; and Joshua (20), son of Johnson of Madurai.The other two deceased are yet to be identified, police sources said.The car was completely crushed in the accident. Local residents, police and fire brigade personnel carried out rescue operations. Portions of the mangled vehicle had to be cut open to extricate some of the victims. Parts of the victims’ bodies were found strewn around the accident site.According to reports, seven of the occupants of the car died on the spot, while the eighth died while being taken to hospital. All the bodies have been shifted to the Thrissur Government Medical College Hospital.The mishap occurred adjacent to a flyover along a stretch of the National Highway where road construction activities were under way.Kerala Sports Minister O. J. Janeesh and Kaipamangalam MLA K K Valsaraj blamed NHAI authorities for failing to take effective measures to prevent accidents on the highway, where construction work was under way. The illegal parking of the truck during the night without proper warning signals also contributed to the accident.Thrissur Rural SP Mohammad Nadeemuddin said the truck driver was absconding and that steps had been taken to apprehend him. The owner of the truck, which had a Maharashtra registration, has been identified.The MLA alleged that there were no proper road signs or adequate lighting in the area. Janeesh alleged that NHAI officials were not implementing the various safety measures suggested by the state government during review meetings.“There is only one NHAI officer overseeing the construction work on this long stretch of road. The officer has failed to attend review meetings on several occasions and has also failed to implement the safety measures agreed upon during the few meetings he attended,” the Minister alleged.District Collector Sikha Surendran, who visited the medical college hospital, said the state government would make arrangements to transport the bodies to Tamil Nadu.“I have informed the officials in Tamil Nadu about this,” she said.Agonising scenes were witnessed at the medical college hospital, where relatives of the deceased arrived to identify and receive the bodies. Parents, relatives and friends were seen wailing uncontrollably at the hospital as the post-mortems were being conducted.
