Police said K Esaki (16) was driving the car with his friends, M Aakash (17), S Adarsh (18), S Manish Kumar (22) and S Sanjay Kumar (19), all natives of Hosur. They were returning home after visiting a restaurant, when the incident happened.

While nearing Kuruparathapalli on the Chennai-Bengaluru national highway, the car went berserk and rammed the median and then into a TNSTC bus bound for Thirupathur from Bengaluru. All the five boys in the car were crushed to death. In the impact, the bus swerved off the road and toppled leaving, 30 of its 50 passengers injured. The injured were immediately rushed to the Hosur GH by the public.

Later, conductor C Govindaraj from Yemakuttiyur village in Dharmapuri was found crushed to death under the mangled remains of the bus. Inquiries revealed that the minor boy, who was at the wheel, lost control of the vehicle following a tyre burst.

However, onlookers said that the bus driver had tried to halt the bus on noticing the speeding car in the wrong direction. But, by then, the car rammed into the bus. Both the car and bus were damaged beyond repair in the mishap.