Eight engineering students from Tamil Nadu's Dindigul were killed when their car rammed into a lorry parked "illegally" on NH-66 in Thrissur district of central Keralam, police said on Saturday.
The accident occurred at around 11.40 pm on Friday at Panambikkunnu in Kaipamangalam, when the car, which was travelling from Guruvayur towards Kodungallur, collided with the rear of the Maharashtra-registered lorry, police said.
According to the FIR, the lorry was parked illegally on the right side of the highway near a barricaded section where traffic had been diverted as part of ongoing construction work.
Police said the car was travelling at high speed and its driver apparently failed to notice the diversion barricade before ramming into the rear of the lorry.
Six students died on the spot, while two others were declared dead on arrival at a nearby hospital, police said.
The victims were students of an engineering college in Dindigul and were travelling towards Kodungallur along NH-66.
Police have identified six of the victims. Four of them-Surya, Yuvasanjith, Vishva and Johua-were from Dindigul, while Santhosh and Prasanna were from Madurai. The identities of the other two are yet to be confirmed.
The youth were pulled out of the mangled car during a rescue operation involving residents, fire and rescue personnel and police. Their bodies were taken to the mortuary of Thrissur Medical College, police said.
Kaipamangalam police have registered a case against the lorry driver under Section 105 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for culpable homicide. The driver went into hiding soon after the accident, police said.
Police contacted the families of the victims using student identity cards recovered from the bodies. Some of the families were unaware that their children had travelled to Keralam, police said.
Postmortem examinations will begin after the families of the victims reach Thrissur Medical College, police said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
