8-year-old girl riding pillion on bike dies as garbage truck runs over her in Chennai

CHENNAI: An eight-year-old girl, riding pillion on a two-wheeler, died on the spot after she fell on the road and run over by a garbage-collecting truck of the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) on Friday afternoon at Kailasam Street in Tondiarpet. The deceased has been identified as V Soumya, the daughter of a cycle rickshaw rider. The truck, coming from behind, allegedly brushed against the two-wheeler causing the riders to fall on the road. According to the Washermenpet Traffic Investigation Wing (TIW) police, the girls teenaged cousin, who was riding the two-wheeler, sustained injuries in the accident. As the teenager was riding along the left side of the truck, she seemed to have lost balance of the two-wheeler, and the vehicle brushed against the truck. The teen fell to her left while the eight-year-old fell to her right and came under the wheels of the vehicle, a police officer said. The police sent the body of the eight-year-old, a class 2 student of a private school in Old Washermenpet, to a government hospital for postmortem. The truck driver, identified as Sararaj (35), has been arrested, and further investigation is under way. Since the two-wheeler was to the left of the truck, the sequence of the events was not clear in the CCTV footage. We have gathered information from passersby who witnessed the accident, and from the truck driver himself, the officer added. The police is also probing whether it is a case of under-age driving. A GCC official said the truck was heading to Kodungaiyur dumpyard after collecting waste from Tondiarpet. The girls were reportedly carrying a gas cylinder on the vehicle, which may have caused them to lose balance. When asked whether the truck violated the permitted time for heavy vehicle, the official said, It is difficult for us to collect garbage within the stipulated time. Water tankers from the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board are able to comply, but if we stick to the rule, the city will not be clean.