Chennai, Sep 12 (IANS): Five members of a family, including a 3-year-old child, were killed when a truck and a car collided head-on near Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu.

The tragic accident occurred during the early hours of Thursday at a place called Kamiyamkuppam when the truck that was going from Chidambaram to Cuddalore rammed into the car. All the five people in the car died on the spot.

The Parangippet police rushed to the spot and retrieved the five bodies which were sent to the Chidambaram Government Hospital for post-mortem.

Police said that the truck driver could have dozed off momentarily while driving when he lost control and collided with the car causing the deaths.

The deceased are identified as Yasser (40) of Koranatu Karuppur area next to Kumbakonam, Thanjavur district; Mohammad Anwar (56) of Palliwasal Street, Mayiladuthurai district; Hajitha Begum (62) of Hajiar Street, Sri Kandapuram; Sarapad Nisha (30) of Thirumangalam area and a 3-year-old boy named Apnan. All the victims were related to each other.

People have alleged that there are frequent accidents in the area due to the lack of barriers in the area, especially as the Villupuram Nagai National Highway construction work is underway.

A senior officer of Cuddalore police said that police have been conducting regular awareness programmes on road safety and driving etiquette. He, however, said that for many of the drivers, especially during the night, the road discipline was not being followed. The officer said that there was a shortage of cops and proper monitoring was not taking place.

R.Palanikumar, a businessman at Kamiyamkuppam where the accident took place told IANS that there was a lack of proper driving awareness and called upon the Motor Vehicles department and district police authorities to conduct regular awareness programmes on road safety.