Three people died in an accident while carrying a dead army soldier to his home town.

COIMBATORE: Three people including two army personnel were killed when an army truck bearing the coffin of an army Subedar who died in Meghalaya overturned here on Mettupalayam – Annur route near Sirumugai on Wednesday afternoon. The Subedar was being escorted to his native town in Nilgiris district. The third fatality was a civilian, an assistant engineer with Tamil Nadu Housing Board Unit who had decided to escort the body after it was brought to the Coimbatore Airport on Wednesday afternoon. He was the deceased jawan’s relative and boarded the army truck along with his wife, Selvi who was also injured in the mishap. At least 14 people were travelling inside the vehicle including seven army personnel and relatives of the deceased army man. The mishap occurred after the driver of the truck lost control when he suddenly applied his brakes to avoid ramming into a two wheeler rider coming from the opposite direction near Muthiyor Illam. The vehicle overturned, crushing the people who were seated at the back along with the coffin. According to police, Saravanan, an army Subedar serving in Meghalaya died while undergoing medical treatment at a hospital there on August 6. The army personnel who were killed in today’s accident were identified as P Sivakumar Reddy (22) from Andhra Pradesh and S Prakash (22) from Karnataka stationed as junior commissioned officers at wellington cantonment in Nilgiris district. The deceased civilian has been identified as O Palanisamy (45), a resident of Brindavan Nagar near Peelamedu. The injured were rushed to Mettupalayam government hospital. All of them were out of danger and are recovering said hospital authorities. “A team of army officials have arrived from Wellington and are working with the local policemen at the hospital,” said ES Uma, SP, Coimbatore District. Saravanan’s body was brought to Coimbatore airport at around 1 pm. His body was transferred to an army truck outside the airport which was on its way to Coonor in when the accident happened. “It seems the vehicle was speeding when the driver lost control. The truck’s driver, Kalidasan, managed to escape with only minor injuries, according to Sirumugai police, who have filed a case. “It was raining and the road surface was wet, which could have resulted in the vehicle skidding from the road,” said R Ramasamy, head constable, of the Sirumugai police station.