Date:24/03/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/03/24/stories/2006032419900300.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Boy run over by tanker

Staff Reporter

The accident took place just outside school premises

TRAGEDY ON THE ROAD: Students look at the spot where a six-year-old child of St. Thomas Mount Panchayat union primary school was fatally run over by a tanker outside the school at Madambakkam on Thursday. — Photo: A. Muralitharan

TAMBARAM: A six-year-old boy was crushed to the death on the spot by a speeding sewage cleaning tanker just outside his school premises at Madambakkam near Tambaram on Thursday.

P. Thamizhchelvan, a second standard student at the St. Thomas Mount panchayat union primary school, was returning to his house after school hours. He was dragged to a distance of about 50 feet by the lorry. Students, parents and teachers at the school were shocked at the accident that took place around 2 p.m.

Residents of Madambakkam said soon after the bell rang, students came out of the school in batches.

The victim was walking along the edge of the road when the tanker hit him. A pile of mud had been dumped on the roadside for some construction work by local residents. The driver of the tanker abandoned the vehicle and fled from the spot.

Son of Panneerselvam, a daily wage earner and Amrithavalli, a maid servant, the boy was staying with his parents and two elder sisters, Aruna and Ambika, students of a high school in the same locality. `Arun' as he is known at home was seen by neighbours as a cheerful child.

The accident angered residents who said they had urged the local body, Madambakkam Special Village Panchayat, and other government agencies long ago to take precautionary measures to prevent accidents near the school zone.

There was no sign around the area to indicate it as a school zone.

Purushothaman, Ward No. 7 member of the panchayat, said the local body had passed a resolution urging the State Highways Department to provide two speed breakers near the school. Highways Department officials said it had become a matter of policy not to provide speed breakers anywhere on their roads as maintaining them — monthly painting of its surface — was not easy.