A lorry carrying 35 tonnes of PDS rice overturned at Paradarami village near Gudiyatham in Vellore on Thursday after the driver lost control of the vehicle on a hill road on the Tamil Nadu-Andhra Pradesh border.

The police said that the driver, G. Sivakumar, a native of Salem, was coming from Vijayawada with a consignment of rice to the PDS godown in Katpadi. Sivakumar suddenly lost control of the vehicle, which overturned on the slope of the stretch. Motorists and passersby rescued the injured driver and admitted him at Government Taluk Hospital in Gudiyatham.

Based on the alert, Paradarami police inspected the spot. The lorry was lifted to a safer place. Police said the region has been witnessing rainfall, especially in the evening hours, for the past few days, which could have made stretches wet and slippery.