PALAKKAD: The Motor Vehicles Department has clarified that it was another lorry that led to the lorry accident at Panayambadam. Four schoolgirls died in the accident. Another lorry hit the lorry which was carrying cement which was involved in the accident. Following this, the lorry carrying cement lost control and overturned. The RTO stated that the driver tried to stop the lorry by hitting the brakes, but the lorry lost control and overturned.

It was a lorry going to Palakkad that hit the lorry carrying cement. The lorry which caused the accident by hitting the cement lorry was taken into police custody. Eyewitnesses also gave a similar statement that the lorry lost control and overturned while giving side to another vehicle. More clarity to come as to whether the lorry was hit while giving side. Police are interrogating the driver of the lorry that hit the lorry loaded with cement. It was found that another lorry had hit the lorry carrying cement during the investigation conducted by the police.

The driver and the cleaner of the lorry loaded with cement were taken into custody by the police. Lorry driver Mahendra Prasad and cleaner Varghese, natives of Kasaragod, were taken into custody. Varghese's leg got fractured in the accident but Mahendra Prasad was not seriously injured. Both are undergoing treatment at Mannarkkad Mother Care Hospital. Blood samples of both will be tested. It will also be checked whether the vehicle was over-speeding and whether the driver was drunk.

The dead bodies of Irfana, Mita, Rida and Ayesha, the eighth-class students of Karimba Higher Secondary School, who died in the accident, have been shifted to Palakkad District Hospital.