S’porean couple on way to temple in India killed by speeding tanker lorry
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A speeding tanker rammed into the car and dragged it off the road into a field.
PHOTO: JSURYAREDDY/TWITTER
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SINGAPORE – A Singaporean couple were on holiday in India when a speeding tanker lorry rammed into their car on Sunday.
Mr Yuvarajan Selvam and his wife, Madam Nagajoethi Varadarasu, both in their 40s, were killed, along with the man who was driving them from Chennai to Tirupati.
The couple had flown from Singapore to India on March 8 for a holiday, and were to be joined by other family members from Singapore on Monday for the second leg of their trip.
But on Sunday, the couple’s family members received a call informing them that they had died in a road accident in India.
Mr Yuvarajan, a construction manager, and Madam Nagajoethi, a teacher, had chartered a car and driver to take them from Chennai, where they were staying, to a temple in the city of Tirupati on Sunday morning.
The 130km drive was expected to take them about 3½ hours.
But at about 8.30am local time (11am Singapore time), as they were about halfway through the drive near Nagari, Andhra Pradesh, a speeding oil tanker lorry rammed into the car and dragged it off the road into a field.
The couple and their driver reportedly died on the spot.
The driver of the tanker lorry fled the scene, leading to a police manhunt for him, reported The Times of India.
It was later reported that the man had been arrested.
A police inspector from Nagari was quoted by Indian daily The Hindu as saying that the couple had been on their way to the temple for darshan, a Hindu practice of viewing a deity for blessings.
He added that the bodies had to be extricated from the mangled wreck and were later taken to a hospital in Nagari for autopsy.
The accident caused a traffic jam that was cleared only after two hours.
The family of the deceased couple received a call from the Singapore authorities at about 3pm on Sunday, and had to break the news to the couple’s nine-year-old son.
Family members flew to India on Sunday night, and received help from the authorities to have the couple’s bodies repatriated.
Mr Yuvarajan and Madam Nagajoethi chartered a car and driver to take them from Chennai, where they were staying, to a temple in Tirupati.
PHOTO: ONE-STOP INDIAN CASKET/FACEBOOK
The wake for the couple is expected to be held at 633 Hougang Avenue 8 from Wednesday evening, and the cortege will leave for Mandai Crematorium on Thursday evening.
The fatal incident is the latest in a string of overseas accidents involving Singaporeans in 2023.
In January, a 41-year-old Singaporean woman and her four-month-old daughter died in Japan after their car collided with a lorry.
In February, a 32-year-old woman, believed to be Singaporean, died along with a 36-year-old man after the car they were in veered off a rural highway in Australia and smashed into a tree.
On its website, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs advises Singaporeans who are going overseas to register online with MFA at https://eregister.mfa.gov.sg
The ministry said the registration is a free and voluntary service it provides to all Singapore citizens who travel or reside overseas.
The information provided will allow the Singapore authorities to reach out and provide assistance in the event of an emergency, MFA said on its website.
