'Trip without informing college, Kerala vacation ends in tragedy'; Families of Kaipamangalam accident victims shattered

THRISSUR: The locals are still not out of shock after learning about the death of eight students in the Kaipamangalam road accident. The victims were students of PSNA Engineering College in Dindigul. However, college authorities said that the eight students went for vacation without informing the college. The accident news reached the college after Kerala Police called the authorities this morning. The authorities also clarified that the students may have planned the trip since the college was closed for vacation.

The accident occurred at Panambikkunnu Centre around 12 midnight on Friday. The bodies of Salem native Vishwa (20), Dindigul native Surya (20), Madurai native Santosh (20), Madurai native Prasanna (20), and Dindigul native Yuvasanjith (20) were identified. The other three have not been identified. Santosh stayed in the college hostel, and it was after he went home that he decided to join the others for vacation.

The parents of the students started their journey to the accident site after getting information. College authorities are also on their way. The car was destroyed in the collision. The students were pulled out by tearing the vehicle open. It is reported that all of them died on the spot. The bodies are now kept at Thrissur Medical College. The postmortem will be conducted at 9 am and then released to the relatives.

Locals present on the spot said they rushed after hearing the noise. Some said the faces of the students were beyond recognition and disfigured. Due to the impact of the collision, one of the students was thrown from the car and fell into the lorry. Locals, the fire brigade and the police worked for hours before pulling them out. Locals alleged negligence of the National Highway authorities in inviting such a horrific tragedy. The lack of adequate signboards and the fact that the lorry was parked on the first track of the National Highway contributed to the accident. The accident that killed actor Kollam Sudhi earlier occurred just 100 meters away from this spot.