Date:28/01/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/01/28/stories/2008012851470100.htm

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Woman, children run over at bus terminus

K. Manikandan

TAMBARAM: A family of three was crushed to death by a truck at the Medavakkam bus terminus near here early on Sunday morning.

The victims were sleeping in the poorly-maintained facility and the vehicle was leaving the terminus after offloading river sand.

The Pallikaranai police, who registered a case before transferring it to the Tambaram Traffic Police (Investigation), said the victims were Gangammal (22), her son Mariappan (4) and her eight months old daughter Kavitha.

Hailing from the temple town of Tiruverkadu in the west of Chennai, they were engaged in roadside acrobatics for a living.

They had been living in Medavakkam for about a month, her relatives told The Hindu and used to sleep in a corner of the terminus.

At around 4 a.m. on Sunday, the truck with the registration number TN 20 Y 6552 offloaded river sand at the terminus and was moving in reverse when the woman and her children came under the wheels. The driver abandoned the vehicle and fled.