Tragic Double Fatality on Chennai’s East Coast Road

CHENNAI: On a melancholic Saturday afternoon, Chennai‘s East Coast Road became the site of a heart-wrenching tragedy involving the deaths of two engineering students. S. Yogeswaran, a 20-year-old from Uthiramerur, succumbed to despair and took his own life following a fatal road accident that claimed the life of his friend, E. Sabrina, aged 21, from Madurantakam.

According to local police reports, the incident occurred as the two students, both hailing from a private engineering college in Padalam, were making their way back to campus following a visit to the historic town of Mamallapuram. The pair were traveling on a motorcycle driven by Yogeswaran when a Puducherry Road Transport Corporation bus collided with them from behind near Pooncheri Junction.

The collision resulted in Sabrina being violently thrown from the bike. She suffered critical head injuries, reportedly not wearing a helmet, and was taken to a nearby hospital where she later succumbed to her injuries. Overcome with grief, Yogeswaran left the hospital in a distressed state and reportedly jumped in front of another Puducherry Road Transport Corporation bus en route to Puducherry, resulting in his instantaneous death.

In response to these tragic events, Chengalpattu district police have registered two separate cases and apprehended the bus drivers involved—Paramasivan and Arumugam—pending further investigation.

In addition to this incident, four more fatalities were reported in separate road accidents across Chennai and its surrounding areas during the same period. One of these involved a three-year-old child, Gagan Sai, who was fatally injured by an autorickshaw in Thiruvalangadu, Tiruvallur district. Police reported that Sai ran onto the road to reach a relative and was struck by the vehicle as his mother, unaware, was distracted by a phone call.

Moreover, near Gummidipoondi, two young employees of a Royapettah-based audit firm lost their lives in a similar road mishap when a lorry collided with their two-wheeler. The victims, Santhosh, 23, and Annie, 21, were declared dead within hours of the accident. Meanwhile, police efforts to locate the lorry driver responsible are underway.

In a separate incident in Manali, a traffic policeman, Lakshmanan from Tondiarpet, was killed after colliding with a crane truck parked on the road as he was on his way to attend a parade. Law enforcement officials noted that potholes on the road may have contributed to the accident, and highlighted that Lakshmanan was not wearing a helmet at the time.