Four Ayyappa devotees from State killed in accident

Four people from Karnataka were on Thursday killed as the SUV they were travelling by collided with a lorry near the Kerala-Karnataka border.

The deceased were identified as Jayanth, Bharath, Ullas and Prithviraj, all natives of Tumakuru district in Karnataka. They were part of a nine-member group returning home after a pilgrimage to the Lord Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala in Kerala, police said.
Five people injured in the accident - Abhishek, Dorai, Vijay, Balakrishnan and Sharuk - have been admitted to J S S Hospital in Mysuru. The bodies of the deceased have been shifted to Tumakuru.

Police said the car carrying the pilgrims collided with a lorry near Hobballa bridge at Mulahalli on the Karnataka side of the Kerala-Karnataka border at about 6.30 am. The lorry was carrying cement from the Mysuru direction.

“The lorry driver, Abraham, is a native of Ambalavayal in Wayanad. He has been hospitalised with minor injuries,” an officer at the Sultan Bathery police station told Deccan Herald. The front portion of the SUV was left mangled in the head-on collision.
Preliminary reports said the driver of the car may have fallen asleep at the wheel, leading to the collision. Gundlupet police have registered a case.