Eight students from Tamil Nadu died after the car they were travelling in collided with a lorry parked on a highway in Kerala’s Thrissur district, police said on Saturday.
The crash took place around 11:40 pm on Friday in Kaipamangalam. CCTV footage showed the car travelling at high speed along a largely deserted stretch of National Highway-66 before hitting the parked lorry, which was not visible in the footage. A cloud of dust appeared immediately following the collision.
Initial information indicated that the victims were students of PSM Engineering College in Dindigul, Tamil Nadu.
The Tamil Nadu-registered car was heading from Guruvayur towards Kodungallur when it struck the lorry, which had been parked near a diversion on a section of the highway that is currently under construction.
According to police, all eight people inside the car died at the scene.
Rescue teams had to cut open the severely damaged vehicle to retrieve the occupants. Local residents, police personnel and fire and rescue teams were involved in the operation.
The victims’ bodies were subsequently moved to the mortuary at Thrissur Medical College, police said.
