Preliminary post-mortem results in the Kaipamangalam road accident in Thrissur, Kerala, that killed eight engineering students from Tamil Nadu indicate that some of the students may have consumed alcohol before the crash, according to the forensic surgeon who supervised the examinations. Dr. Hitesh Shankar, head of the Forensic Medicine Department at Thrissur Medical College, said in a Facebook post that the preliminary assessment pointed to alcohol consumption. He cautioned that the presence of alcohol in blood alone cannot be used to conclusively establish the cause of the accident. He also noted that alcohol consumption can affect a driver's judgement, attention, reaction time, coordination, and perception of speed and distance. Further test results are pending.