Four killed as cars collide, catch fire

Four persons, including a couple, were killed on the spot after the cars in which they were travelling collided head-on and caught fire on the Belagavi-Bagalkot state highway near K Chandargi village in Ramdurg taluk of Belagavi district on Monday.

Basavanagouda Tikanagouda Patil, 55, and Mallayya Adavayya Matapati, 33, both residents of Salahalli in Ramdurg taluk, were charred to death as they got stuck inside their Mahindra Verito car that caught fire following the collision. Badrinath Bhimrao Wadappi, 58, and his wife Suman, 55, residents of Saptapur in Dharwad, who were in Hyundai Santro were also killed on the spot, but the villagers managed to remove their bodies from the car before it caught fire, said police. Wadappi was the general manager of  Vijayapur-Bagalkot Cooperative Milk Union.

Basavanagouda Patil and Mallayya Matapati were heading towards Markatti from their native while Badrinath and Suman were on their way to  Lokapur from Yaragatti when the mishap occurred.