Speeding ambulance claims lives of three persons on Inner Ring Road near Tirumangalam

In a tragic incident, a speeding ambulance claimed the lives of three persons, including a patient being rushed to a private hospital in Madurai, its attender and a college boy from Thoothukudi, travelling in another vehicle, after colliding with a car coming on opposite direction on the Inner Ring Road near Kappalur in Madurai district on Sunday afternoon.

The police identified the deceased as K. Saravana Ganesh (32), the patient travelling in the ambulance, G. Pradeep (35), his relative, both travelling in a private ambulance and S. Mahesh Aditya (19) of Thoothukudi.

Aditya’s mother, S. Sornalakshmi (48), and her elder son, S. Gomathi Shenbaga Moorthi (21) and the ambulance driver, D. Anandakumar (20) of Tirumangalam have been admitted to different hospitals.

The police said that Saravana Ganesh had some heart ailments and had gone to a private hospital in Tirumangalam. After being referred to another corporate hospital in Madurai, Saravana Ganesh, along with his relative, Pradeep, travelled in the private ambulance.

The driver, Anandakumar, lost control of the ambulance while applying brakes while passing through the IOC Terminal at Kappalur. The speeding ambulance hit the median of the Kappalur-Uthangudi Inner Ring Road and it jumped over it and landed on the opposite lane.

The ambulance also got upset and fell on its side.

Within a fraction of a second, the car coming on the opposite lane rammed the ambulance at around 12.30 p.m.

Aditya, who was behind the wheel of the car, the patient and its attender in the ambulance were killed on the spot.

Sornalakshmi sustained serious head injuries. All the three injured, including the ambulance driver, were rushed to the Government Rajaji hospital by an ‘108’ ambulance.

The police added that the family of Sornalakshmi from Anna Nagar in Thoothukudi was proceeding to an engineering college in Erode, where both the brothers were studying. They were returning to the college after spending three-day holiday in their hometown.

Later, the mother and son were shifted to a private hospital.

Tirumangalam Town police are investigating.