Journalist's daughter killed in early morning accident

PETALING JAYA: The daughter of The Sun deputy editor R. Nadeswaran and her friend were killed and two others injured after their car skidded and hit a tree before plunging into a drain here early yesterday. 

N. Sumitra, 19, who was in the back seat behind the driver, died on the spot in the 12.40am accident on Jalan Templer here. 

Sumitra was a first year law student at Kemayan ATC. her 24-year-old friend, M. Kuganesan, who was driving the Proton Satria Aeroback car, died an hour after being admitted to the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre. 

Sumitra was in the rear seat behind the driver.

Two others, a man and a woman in their 20s, were receiving treatment at the medical centre. 

Nadeswaran, when approached at the medical centre, said he had sent Sumitra to the Kelana Jaya LRT station here at 10am on Friday. 

At 8pm, his daughter attended a song recital at a temple in Jalan Templer. 

Sumitra and her friends had then participated in the Navarathri prayers at a temple in Jalan Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur, and were heading back to the temple in Jalan Templer when the accident happened. 

“The car is believed to have gone out of control and hit a tree before plunging into the drain,” said a devastated Nadeswaran. Sumitra was the elder of two children. 

“The last time I saw her was at the LRT station. She was her normal cheerful self. We were very close, more like friends.” 

A relative, who declined to be identified, said Kuganesan had just returned from Britain after completing his engineering studies there.