6 killed as speeding truck hits SUV

Namakkal: Six people, four of them migrant labourers from Bihar, were killed after a speeding truck laden with brick rammed the Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) they were travelling in at Chinnaveppanatham village here on Friday night.
Following the incident, traffic between Namakkal and Trichy was affected for nearly two hours.
The Namakkal town police identified the deceased as Sasi Kumar, 28, and Sathish Kumar, 38, both building contractors from Vettampadi village, and their workers Dharma, 40, Baplu, 30, Dechan Kumar, 35 and Jikendran, 22, all natives of Bihar.
District superintendent of police (SP) R Arularasu said the incident occurred when the six were returning to Vettampady after fixing tiles of a new house at Kattuputhur in Trichy district. Sathish Kumar was at the wheels of the SUV.
“When they neared Chinnaveppanatham on Namakkal-Trichy highway around 11.15pm, the speeding truck that was heading to Trichy, suddenly hit the SUV, killing all the six on the spot,” the SP said. Chinnaveppanatham is just 5km away from Namakkal town.
Road users immediately alerted the Namakkal town police, who retrieved the dead bodies and sent them to the district government headquarters hospital for postmortem.
The truck driver, whose identity is yet to be ascertained, managed to escape from the accident spot. Traffic on the stretch was restored at 1.30am on Saturday, the SP said.
The Namakkal town police have registered a case and further inquiry is on.