Three on way to Chennai to eat biryani die as car hits van

CHENNAI: Three men died and two others suffered severe injuries when the car they were travelling in collided with a van at Irulancherry in Tiruvallur district just after midnight on Thursday. The five men, all residents of Arakkonam, were on their way to Chennai to eat biryani when the accident took place.
The Mappedu police who identified the deceased as P Ashwin, 25, G Balaji, 26 and S Madan, 26, said the condition of S Vishnu, 28, and Hemanth is serious. Around 12.30am, the car was going along Irulanchery near Mappedu and was negotiating a curve when it collided head on with a minivan.
The minivan, which was carrying 14 people who were employed in a private company at Sriperumbudur, was heading to Arakkonam. So severe was the impact that the car's front portion was crushed and Ashwin, Balaji and Madan suffered severe injuries and died on the spot, a police officer said.
Based on information received, a team of the Mappedu police reached the spot and rushed the injured to the hospital. The bodies were sent to a government hospital in Tiruvallur for postmortem.
Police registered a case of causing death due to negligence and rash driving. Preliminary investigations revealed that the five men had heard of a restaurant in Chennai that serves biryani at midnight and were heading there in the car for dinner. While Vishnu was sent to the Tiruvallur Government Hospital, Hemanth was rushed to Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) in Chennai. Doctors there said the condition of both the men is critical.
Police suspect that the drivers of the vehicles, which were travelling in the opposite directions, took the curve without any indication and this could have led to the accident. Moreover the area was poorly lit, police said.