Coimbatore: Three students were killed and three injured seriously when a gas cylinder-lorry hit their motorcycles on Palakkad bypass road past midnight yesterday, police said today.

According to police, Karthik (20), an engineering student in a private college,was taking his friends Saravanan (21) and Aswin (19) to his room in Malumichapatti in the midnight.

The students were accompanied by three others on another motorcycle.

As the vehicle neared Chettipalayam on the bypass, Karthik attempted to overtake a lorry carrying iron sheets. In the process, his motorcycle collided with a cylinder-laden lorry coming from opposite direction.

All the three students died on the spot. The lorry tried to negotiate the vehicle and hit  another lorry, which hit the other motorcycle, resulting in injuries to the three students.

The bodies were taken to the Government Hospital for post mortem, while the injured were undergoing treatment there, police added.