Seventeen people, including six women were killed and 30 injured in a multiple collision involving a lorry, State-owned bus and a car at Melumali in Krishnagiri this evening.

According to police most of the victims were bus passengers.

The lorry driver, it is learnt, lost control after one of the tyres burst as a result of which the vehicle jumped the road divider and rammed into the bus that was on its way to Hosur from Krishnagiri. Most of the victims were bus passengers. A car that was coming near the bus was also hit. The drivers of the lorry and the bus died on the spot.

Police personnel, assisted by a large number of people, had a tough time in retrieving the bodies from the bus and shifting the injured to hospitals in Bengaluru.

The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister announced a solatium of Rs. 1,00,000 to the families of the victims and Rs. 50,000 to the injured.