13 including 10 of a family from Hosur die in road accident while returning from pilgrimage trip

In a tragic turn of events in the wee hours of Friday as many as 13 people died in a road accident at Byalada Kere Gate near Kunigal on the Bengaluru-Mangaluru National Highway (NH-75) after the two SUVs collided head on with each other. While 10 people among the dead belonged to a same family from Hosur, the three others were said to be residents of Bengaluru.

According to the Kunigal Police, a family of 14 people from Hosur were returning from a pilgrimage trip to Dharmasthala on account of Mundan ceremony of their 9-month-old baby girl. Similarly, a team of four friends from Bengaluru were heading towards Dharmasthala for offering Pooja.

The police said that the SUV, in which youngsters were travelling, first hit the median and then rammed into the SUV, of the family, that was coming from other side, after losing the control completely. “The impact of the collision was such that 9 people including the 9-month-old toddler travelling in the SUV died on the spot, while three youngsters in another SUV also lost their lives,” explained an official.

The only members who survived the ghastly and fatal accident were kids aged between four and 14-years as they were seated at the back. The jurisdictional police revealed that the condition of the injured four from the same family is very critical and rushed to a private hospital in Bengaluru for advanced treatment.

Manjunath (35) a resident of Hosur was returning from Dharmasthala along with his family and relatives after completing the mundan ceremony of his 9- month old daughter. The deceased have been identified as Manjunath (35), Tanuja (25), 9-month-old baby, Gowramma(60), Rathnamma (52), Soundararaj (48), Rajendra (27), Sarala (32), Prashanya (14) of the same family and Lakshmikanth (24), Sandeep (36) and Madhu (28) travelling in another SUV.