Nine killed, 28 injured as truck rams into bus

Erode, Oct 6 (UNI) Nine people were killed and 28 injured when a state transport Corporation bus, in which they were travelling collided with a cement laden truck at Sankaranpallam, near Vellakoil, in Erode district of Tamil Nadu early today.

The dead included three women and two children.

Police said the victims were travelling to Pudukottai from Tirupur when the mishap occurred a little past midnight.

While five of them were killed on the spot, four, including two children, aged two and five years, died in the hospital. The driver of the bus was also killed.

The bus was proceeding on the right path but the truck, coming in the opposite direction, suddenly severed to the right as its front axil broke when the mishap occurred.

The impact was so severe that the truck ripped apart the entire left portion of the bus and dragged it to a side, police said.

The injured were admitted to Government hospitals in Tirupur, Coimbatore and Erode, police said adding, the condition of at least three people was serious.

UNI XR/WS LS KP1118