Around 11:30 pm, the truck, carrying a consignment of potato and ginger from Arsikere for a north Indian destination, was passing through Appenahalli, when the two men sitting atop the truck came into contact with the live wire, which was hung across the road, and died instantaneously.
The wire snapped and fell on the lorry cabin, electrocuting three others.
The police have identified the dead as Rasool Bhai (53), the lorry driver from Rajasthan, Gouramma (65), Nandish (30), Kumar (31) and Santosh (20).
The police said a trader from Hassan had purchased potato and ginger from farmers at Arsikere for supplying the goods to North India.
The produce was loaded on to two Hassan-bound trucks. Seventeen workers, 13 of them women, who were sitting in the rear end of the truck had a providential escape when the live wire fell on the vehicle.
