Overview
- Police said the collision occurred around 11 a.m. near Uthamacholapuram on the Salem–Coimbatore National Highway.
- A state-run bus traveling from Erode to Salem allegedly lost brakes, crossed into oncoming traffic, and hit a pickup van and a two-wheeler.
- The dead include a three-months-pregnant woman, an 11-month-old girl, a five-year-old, and other relatives in the van, while two victims on the two-wheeler were identified as S. Manikandan, 21, and his mother S. Irusayee, 50.
- The bus driver, Ayyandurai, fled but was arrested within an hour, and conductor Balakrishnan is being questioned as police examine footage from a nearby petrol bunk.
- Authorities reported multiple hospitalizations and sent the bodies for postmortem, though published accounts differ on the exact number of injured.