Eight students were killed after a Tamil Nadu-registered seven-seater car crashed into a parked goods lorry on National Highway 66 in Kerala's Thrissur district late on Friday night. The accident took place around 11.40 pm on September 4 at Panambikkunnu in Kaipamangalam.
According to preliminary information, the car was travelling from Guruvayur towards Kodungallur when it collided with the rear of the parked lorry. The lorry was reportedly stationed near a diversion on an under-construction stretch of National Highway 66. Traveling at high speed, the driver apparently missed a diversion barricade and slammed into the parked lorry's rear, as per media reports.
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Six students died instantly at the scene, while two others were declared dead upon arrival at a nearby hospital, according to police.
Police confirmed that all eight occupants,young men from Tamil Nadu believed to be engineering students, died in the crash. Authorities recovered student identification cards from the vehicle, with preliminary reports indicating they attended an engineering college in Dindigul, Tamil Nadu.
The impact of the collision was severe, leaving the car badly mangled. Rescue personnel faced difficulties in removing the occupants from the wreckage and had to cut open the vehicle to retrieve the bodies. Fire and rescue personnel, police officials and local residents were involved in the rescue operation.
The bodies were subsequently shifted to the mortuary at Thrissur Medical College for further procedures and identification.
Preliminary reports also said CCTV footage captured the car travelling along the highway shortly before the crash. The footage and other evidence are expected to form part of the investigation into the circumstances leading to the collision, according to the reports.
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Police have initiated an investigation into the accident. Authorities are examining the road conditions, the positioning of the parked lorry and other factors that may have contributed to the crash.
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