A 15-month-old child, who suffered from a heart ailment and for whom his family went to pray at some dargahs in Tamil Nadu, was killed along with 8 others in an accident while on their way back near Periyapatna in the early hours of Wednesday.
Twenty members of two families from Deralakatte near Mangalore were on a pilgrimage to dargahs in Tamil Nadu to pray for the well being of their respective family members and were on their way home when the accident occurred. Twelve others have also sustained injuries.
The Tempo Traveller in which they were travelling collided head-on with a lorry carrying LPG cylinders at Kampalapura in Periyapatna taluk. The pilgrimage was planned by Mohammed and his wife Zeenat who wanted to pray for their ailing child. They wanted to travel by train.
When Mohammed informed his friend Ameer about the pilgrimage, he, too, decided to join in along with his family. Ameer wanted to pray for his unemployed son in Saudi Arabia.
The families left Mangalore on May 10, visited Muthupete, Nagoor and Eruvadi Darghas in Tamil Nadu, and were on their way back when the accident took place.
Mohammed is a beedi contractor and Ameer was eking out a living by selling clothes at different places. Ameer had recently met with an accident in Kasargod railway station and had recovered only a few days ago, after four months of treatment.