Thanjavur: The Motor Accident Case Claims Tribunal here ordered a private insurance company to pay a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the next kin of a Plus One student and a one-and-a-half-year-old child who died in a mishap in 2015.

According to the prosecution, Ignatius Irudayaraj, resident of Mallapuram area in Kumbakonam, along with his family and the families of his close friends and relatives, was returning home in a van after visiting Chennai on August 23, 2015 when the van collided with a State-owned transport corporation (TNSTC) bus proceeding ahead of it on the road at Thenpalkam.

In the mishap, five persons, including Irudayaraj’s 16-year-old daughter Stephy and his friend Santhanaraj’s one-and-a-half-year-old son Rohit, died on the spot.

Acharapakkam police registered a case. Meanwhile, Ignatius Irudayaraj and Santhanaraj separately filed petitions before the Motor Accident Case Claims Tribunal in Thanjavur direction to the private insurance company to pay adequate compensation subsequent to the death of their children.

Principal Sub Judge Poornajaya Anand, delivering his verdict in the case on Wednesday, ordered the Regional Manager of the private insurance company, Thanjavur, to pay Rs 5 lakh each as compensation to the respective families of the two children.