A road crash in Tamil Nadu early Thursday left 20 dead and 28 injured as a lorry collided with their bus reducing it to a mangled heap. Police said the accident occurred on the Salem-Kochi highway at Avinashi in Tirupur around 4 am as the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) bus was going to Ernakulam from Bengaluru. Tirupur is located about 450 km from here.

Most of the passengers were asleep when the lorry crashed into the bus. The tiles-laden container lorry's tyre burst and it entered the wrong lane colliding with the bus, reducing the vehicle to a mangled heap, police said. The 20, including six women, died at the scene while the injured were admitted to hospitals in Tirupur and Coimbatore, police said. Palakkad Superintendent of Police Siva Vikram said "It was a high speed collision. The container lorry went out of control." There were 48 passengers on board the bus. The lorry's tyre burst before colliding with the KSRTC bus, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami said in the state Assembly, adding, victims were Keralites.