Four farmers killed as truck turns turtle

Four farmers were killed, three of them on the spot, after a truck in which they were travelling along with onions turned turtle following tyre blast, near Alur Cross on NH-4 bypass in Hiriyur in the early hours of Monday.

The deceased have been identified as Prashanth Hatti (36), Gurappa Erappa Hugara (30), Ramesh (26) and Suresh Kalakappa Hunugundi (30) - all residents of Huyilagola in Gadag district. The first three were crushed to death under onion bags while the fourth one died at the hospital.

Seriously injured Sangappa Thippanna Hanchinal, also from Huyilagola and lorry cleaner Anand have been admitted at district hospital in Chitradurga.

Town police said that the farmers were transporting onion to Bengaluru market as they have to pay more for commission agents at Hubballi and Gadag markets. They were sleeping on the top of the onion load in the truck.

The accident also resulted in a serial mishap, which held the traffic on the busy highway for more than 30 minutes.