(Rpt with corrections throughout)

Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu, May 1 (UNI) Six people, including four women, were killed on the spot and another person was seriously injured when a lorry in which they were travelling plunged into an irrigation canal at Pallividai near Samayapuram on the Tiruchirapalli-Chennai national highway, here early today.

Police said the lorry was proceeding to Chennai from Tuticorin with plantain load when the driver lost control and the vehicle plunged into a roadside irrigartion canal at around 0300 hrs.

Seven persons were trapped under the plantain load, while two others managed to escape. while six people, including four women were killed, another person was rescued by a passerby and was admitted to the government headquarters hospital here.

The identity of the deceased persons was yet to be ascertained.

Police have registered a case and are investigating, a search is on to nab the driver.

The lorry driver had given lift to nine persons at Manapparai.

UNI