6 killed, 16 injured after driver falls asleep, rams van into tree in Tamil Nadu

KALLAKURICHI: Six pilgrims were killed and 16 others were injured when the driver of the van in which they were travelling lost control of the vehicle after he fell asleep and rammed the van into a tree on the roadside near Ulundurpet in Kallakurichi district on Wednesday morning.
Police said 23 people from a village in Tiruvannamalai district went on a pilgrimage to Tiruchendur a couple of days ago.They were returning to their village in a Mahindra maxi cab van. When they crossed Mettathur village around 2 am on Wednesday, the driver fell asleep and lost control of the vehicle, which rammed into a tree on the roadside at full speed.
Six pilgrims – R Murugan, 52, M Sakthi, 20, P Kutti alias Selvam, 50, R Durai, 43, K Ramalingam, 50, and G Ravi, 60 – were crushed to death on the spot while 22 others sustained severe injuries. A highway patrol team reached the spot, rescued the injured pilgrims with the help of local police, and rushed them to Mudiyampakkam govt medical college and hospital. The team members recovered the bodies of the deceased and sent them to the medical college and hospital for postmortem examination.