Five women were killed when two State buses collided at Keelpenathur near Tiruvannamalai on Sunday morning.

Police sources said the accident took place around 10.20 am at the bend near the Kadambai Junction on the Puducherry-Bangalore National Highway. A bus travelling from Chennai to Tiruvannamalai ran into another bus going from Tiruvannamalai to Chennai.

Vellayan, inspector in-charge of the the Keelpenathur police station, who visited the site of the accident, told Express that Udayakumar (43) of Arani, who was driving the Chennai- Tiruvannamalai bus, was talking on his mobile phone while driving and lost control of the vehicle when it neared a curve in the road near Kadambai Junction. The bus then collided with the other bus that came from the opposite direction.

The inspector said the front portion of the bus from Chennai was badly damaged in the accident. He added that several pasengers had been gravely injured and the mangled limbs of a few lay on the road and in the bus.

He said 42 passengers had been injured in the accident and six were in a critical condition.

While two women died on the spot, three more died after they were taken to the Tiruvannamalai Government Hospital for treatment. The deceased were identified as M Lakshmidevi (45) of Chetpet, K Nandeeshwari (41) of Chrompet and R Vijayalakshmi of East Tambaram near Chennai, S Meenakshi (52) of Vengikal near Tiruvannamalai and an unidentified woman, aged about 47 years.

The victims were initially rushed to the Tiruvannamalai GH after which some of the more critically injured were referred to government hospitals in Vellore, Chennai and Puducherry, and to the Christian Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) at Vellore.

Tiruvannamalai Collector Dr M Rajendran visited the victims at the government hospital.

Police sources said Udayakumar had escaped after receiving first aid from the government hospital.