Thrissur: Eight engineering college students from Tamil Nadu were killed after the car in which they were travelling rammed into a stationary goods lorry on National Highway 66 at Kaipamangalam in Thrissur district around midnight on Friday.
The accident occurred at Panambikkunnu Centre on a stretch of the national highway where construction work is underway.
The Tamil Nadu-registered car, carrying eight people, crashed into the rear of the lorry, which had been parked near a diversion created as part of the ongoing highway works.
The impact of the collision was severe, leaving the car completely mangled and trapping its occupants inside.
Local residents and rescue personnel rushed to the spot after learning about the accident. The damaged vehicle had to be cut open to extricate the victims.
Seven of the occupants are understood to have died at the accident site, while another victim was rushed to hospital but could not be saved.
Police and emergency personnel subsequently shifted the bodies for further procedures.
The victims were students of P.S.M Engineering College in Dindigul, Tamil Nadu. Five of those killed have been identified as Vishwa, 20, from Salem; Surya, 20, and Yuvasanjith, 20, from Dindigul; Santhosh, 20, and Prasanna from Madurai.
Authorities were working to establish the identities of the remaining three victims and inform their relatives.
The car involved in the accident bore the Tamil Nadu registration number TN 59 DW 8299.
The circumstances that led to the car crashing into the stationary lorry are being examined. The presence of the parked vehicle near a diversion on the highway construction stretch is also expected to form part of the investigation.
Personnel from the Kaipamangalam police station reached the accident site soon after being alerted and initiated an enquiry.
Police are expected to examine the vehicles and gather other evidence from the scene to establish the precise sequence of events.
The accident comes amid extensive construction and widening work along several portions of NH-66 in Kerala, where temporary diversions and traffic restrictions have been put in place.
Further details regarding the victims and the circumstances surrounding the late-night collision are awaited as the police investigation continues.
(IANS)
