Three killed, 15 injured as omnibus rams parked vehicle near TN's Madurai
Madurai (Tamil Nadu) (PTI): Three persons, including two women, were killed and over 15 others sustained injuries after a private omnibus rammed into another stationary bus near Melur here in the early hours of Sunday, police said.
The accident occurred on the Trichy-Madurai National Highway at Pallapatti, within the Kottampatti police limits.
According to police sources, a private omnibus traveling from Chennai to Madurai had pulled over at a roadside tea stall in the Pallapatti suburban area. While the driver was away, another private omnibus—en route from Chennai to Marthandam—lost control and crashed into the rear of the parked vehicle with significant impact.
The collision resulted in the immediate death of three passengers: Kanagaranjitham (65), Sudarshan (23) and an unidentified female passenger.
More than 15 passengers from both buses sustained various degrees of injuries. Local residents rushed to the spot and assisted in the rescue operations. The injured were transported via 108 ambulances and private vehicles to government hospitals in Melur and Madurai for treatment.
Upon receiving the information, a police team led by Melur Deputy Superintendent of Police Sivakumar and personnel from the Kottampatti station arrived at the scene to oversee rescue efforts and clear the highway traffic.
A case has been registered, and an investigation is currently underway to determine if driver fatigue or overspeeding led to the fatal
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ISRO successfully conducts second integrated air drop test for Gaganyaan mission
New Delhi (PTI): Space agency ISRO has successfully conducted the second integrated air drop test (IADT-02) for the upcoming Gaganyaan mission at the space station in Andhra Pradesh's Sriharikota.
The system is essential to ensure a safe recovery of the crew module -- the capsule in which astronauts sit during a human flight -- during re-entry and landing.
Union minister Jitendra Singh congratulated the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for successfully conducting the test.
"Congratulations #ISRO for the successful accomplishment of Second Integrated Air Drop Test (IADT-02) for #Gaganyaan, India's first Human Space flight scheduled next year. The second Integrated Air Drop Test (IADT-02) was successfully conducted at Satish Dhawan Space Station Sriharikota," Singh said in a post on X.
The IADT-02 follows the successful completion of the first IADT, which took place on August 24, 2025, at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
Air drop tests recreate the last leg of a spacecraft's return to Earth. An aircraft or helicopter drops the spacecraft from a height to test various systems under different scenarios.
These are the deployment of the parachute system in case the mission is aborted mid-flight, system performance when one parachute fails to open and the spacecraft's orientation and safety during splashdown etc.
In the IADT-02 test, a simulated crew module, weighing about 5.7 tonnes, was lifted by an Indian Air Force Chinook helicopter to an altitude of about three kilometres and released over a designated drop zone in the sea, near the Sriharikota coast.
In a statement, the ISRO said, "Ten parachutes of four types were deployed in a precise sequence during the descent of the crew module, gradually reducing the velocity for safe touchdown. Subsequently, the simulated crew module was successfully recovered in coordination with the Indian Navy."
