Four members of a family, including a 10-year-old boy, were killed after the auto-rickshaw in which they were travelling rammed into a lorry near Periyapalayam in Tiruvallur district.
Lokanathan, 42, an auto-rickshaw driver from the Thyagaraya Nagar area of Kodungaiyur in Chennai, was travelling with his wife Poongodi, 39, daughter Thanalakshmi, 10, mother-in-law Radha, 65, and his sister-in-law’s sons Gokul, 10, and Prashanth, 15.
The family was on its way to the Bhavani Amman Temple at Periyapalayam on the night of the incident. When the auto-rickshaw reached near the MTC Nagar bus stop at Panappakkam village on the Chennai–Periyapalayam Highway, it collided with an unidentified lorry travelling ahead.
Poongodi died on the spot. Periyapalayam police rushed to the scene and rescued the injured persons. They were taken by 108 ambulance to the Periyapalayam Government Primary Health Centre.
Radha and Gokul died on the way to the hospital, while Thanalakshmi died on Sunday evening. The other injured persons were given first aid and shifted to Tiruvallur Government Medical College Hospital for further treatment.
Police recovered the bodies of the four victims and sent them to Tiruvallur Government Hospital for post-mortem examination.
A case has been registered and police are searching for the vehicle involved in the accident. The incident caused considerable tension in the area.
