At least 19 people were killed in a dreadful busaccident at Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu in the wee hours of Thursday morning.

A Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC)collided with a container truck in Coimbatore, fatally wounding manypassengers. The truck was reportedly moving on the wrong side of the road whenit had a head-on collision with the bus.

Apart from the 19 killed, 23 others were injured. All the48 seats of the bus were booked, officials said the toll might further go up.

However, the truck driver is absconding while the police have launched a hunt to look for him.

The state-run Volvo bus was on its way to Bengalurufrom Ernakulam when it met with an accident. The bus hit the truck nearAvinashi town of Tirupur district, killing many of the passengers.

According to reports, out of the 19 killed, 14 weremen and 5 women.

The bus was going to Thiruvananthapuram from Bengaluruwhile the lorry was coming from the opposite direction on the Coimbatore-SalemHighway when the mishap occurred at 4.30 am.

Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan has instructed PalakkadDistrict Collector to provide emergency medical care to the victims of theaccident. Procedures to identify the deceased are in progress.

The CM has also said that all possible relief measureswill be taken in cooperation with the government of Tamil Nadu and the DistrictCollector of Tirupur.