Five people, including a three-year-old girl, died and two others were injured in a multi-vehicle accident near Melur in this district, police said.
According to the police, the accident occurred on the Thumbaipatti four-lane flyover stretch when a car carrying six people — three men, two women, and a child — en route from Chennai to Tirunelveli collided with a two-wheeler moving ahead.
The driver of the car lost control following the impact, causing the vehicle to veer onto the opposite side of the highway, where it crashed head-on into another car traveling from Madurai toward Trichy.
The Chennai-bound car was completely crushed under the impact of the collision. Five occupants of the vehicle died on the spot.
Two persons, a male occupant from the Chennai car and a male passenger from the oncoming vehicle, sustained severe injuries. They were rescued by personnel from the Melur Fire Department, local police, and 108 Ambulance emergency responders, and rushed to the Melur Government Hospital for treatment.
The crash temporarily disrupted traffic along the busy stretch. Melur police have cleared the vehicles to restore traffic flow, registered a case, and initiated an investigation into the incident.