3 die as car plunges into well

COIMBATORE: In an unusual tragic incident, three persons were killed when a car, absent-mindedly set in reverse gear mode, driven by a young woman sped backwards and plunged into a 170-feet deep farm well at Karadimadai near Perur on the outskirts of Coimbatore on Sunday morning.Two children Pavanjit (6) and Indrajit (3), who were inside the car, miraculously survived the fall.The incident happened minutes after the children’s mother Meena alias Meenakshi (30) switched on the car’s ignition key and pressed the accelerator without realising that the family’s driver Siva alias Sivaraj (42) had absent-mindedly set the gear in reverse mode while parking the vehicle at their farmhouse the previous night.Meena, her two children, mother-in-law Vasanthamani (51) and Siva were in the car, while her husband Divakar and father-in-law Ayyasamy were preparing to leave home, presumably for a family outing.Eyewitnesses said that within no time, the car sped backwards, crashed through a wire mesh fencing and plunged into the open farm well, about 40 feet from the house. Meena, Vasanthamani and Siva were killed on the spot.Hearing the loud thud, Divakar and Ayyasamy came running and the former entered the slushy well hoping to save his family members. He managed to retrieve his children with the help of neighbours and rush them to a private hospital where they are recuperating. One of the children, according to police, has sustained a head injury.Fire and Rescue Services personnel, who were summoned, managed to retrieve the bodies of the three victims from the well.“Meena had learned driving recently. Although the family driver was inside the car, he could not react in time,” a police officer said.The family has a jewellery shop on Big Bazaar Street and is also into farming.On hearing about the incident, State Industries Minister S P Velumani, who represents the Thondamuthur constituency, went to the house of the victims and consoled the family members.