Korean firm executive, cabbie die as bus smashes car

Chennai: A senior executive of the Indian arm of a South Korean air pollution control company and a taxi driver died in a freak accident on Chennai Bypass Road on Friday morning.
Police said a State Express Transport Corporation bus heading to Chennai from Chengalpet hit the median, barrelled over onto the other side of the road and ploughed into a taxi moving in the opposite direction.
Chengalpet Town police inspector T Lamech said Prapir Maiti, 54, director of Lodge Cottrell India Pvt Ltd, a division of Seoul, South Korea-headquartered KC Cottrell, and taxi driver L Janardhanan, 45, of Ayapakkam, died on the spot.
Maiti had on Friday flown to Chennai from Kolkata, where Lodge Cottrell has an engineering centre, and engaged a taxi from Aviation Express cab services to attend a business appointment in Tindivanam.
"The driver of the SETC bus, Ponnudrai, probably fell asleep at the wheel," inspector Lamech said. "He lost control of the vehicle, it rammed the median and crossed over to the other side of the road. Judging by the damage to the car, the impact of the collision was considerable."
When policemen arrived, they found that they would have to cut open the badly mangled car to extricate the bodies, he said. They sent the bodies to Chengalpet Government Hospital for autopsy.
Only one person on the bus sustained injuries. Doctors at the government hospital treated Murugeshwari, 31, as an outpatient.
The accident held up traffic on the road for more than an hour. Maiti, who was in charge of the engineering operations of Lodge Cottrell, had planned to visit a plant in Chitoor later, inspector Lamech said. The Chengalpet Town police arrested bus driver Ponnudurai and charged him with rash and negligent driving.