<p>Thirteen people were killed after two SUVs collided head-on at Byaladakere Gate near Kunigal on the Bengaluru-Mangaluru Highway (NH-75) in the wee hours of Friday. While 10 of the deceased belonged to the same family from Hosur in Tamil Nadu, three others were residents of Bengaluru.</p>.<p>According to Amruthur police in Kunigal taluk, a family of 14 from Seekanapalli in Hosur, was returning from a pilgrimage to Dharmasthala after performing the Mundan ceremony of their eight-month-old baby boy. Similarly, a group of four friends from Bengaluru were heading towards Dharmasthala to offer pooja. The police said the SUV, in which the friends were travelling, lost control, hit the median and then crashed into the Hosur family’s SUV coming in the opposite direction. “The impact of the collision was such that nine people, including the eight-month-old baby travelling in the SUV, died on the spot, while three of the four friends in the other SUV were also killed,” an officer said.</p>.<p>IG (Central) Sharat Chandra; Tumakuru SP Dr K Vamshi Krishna and DySP Jagadish and other officials visited the spot.</p>.<p>The deceased included Manjunath (35), a teacher at a private school near Hosur, his wife Tanuja (25), Chetan (8 months), Moulyashree (4), Soundarrajan (48), Sarala (32), Rajendra (27), Rathnamma (52), Gowramma (60) and Trishanya (14), all belonging to the same family. Those killed in the other SUV are Lakshmikanth (24), Sandeep (36) and Madhu (28).</p>.<p class="CrossHead">Locals in tears</p>.<p>Locals were shocked upon hearing the news as the taluk had never seen so many deaths in a single accident before. Hundreds of villagers flocked the accident site. The sight of the eight-month-old baby who died clutching onto his mother while being fed without any scar moved the public and women constables who were on duty to tears.</p>
<p>Thirteen people were killed after two SUVs collided head-on at Byaladakere Gate near Kunigal on the Bengaluru-Mangaluru Highway (NH-75) in the wee hours of Friday. While 10 of the deceased belonged to the same family from Hosur in Tamil Nadu, three others were residents of Bengaluru.</p>.<p>According to Amruthur police in Kunigal taluk, a family of 14 from Seekanapalli in Hosur, was returning from a pilgrimage to Dharmasthala after performing the Mundan ceremony of their eight-month-old baby boy. Similarly, a group of four friends from Bengaluru were heading towards Dharmasthala to offer pooja. The police said the SUV, in which the friends were travelling, lost control, hit the median and then crashed into the Hosur family’s SUV coming in the opposite direction. “The impact of the collision was such that nine people, including the eight-month-old baby travelling in the SUV, died on the spot, while three of the four friends in the other SUV were also killed,” an officer said.</p>.<p>IG (Central) Sharat Chandra; Tumakuru SP Dr K Vamshi Krishna and DySP Jagadish and other officials visited the spot.</p>.<p>The deceased included Manjunath (35), a teacher at a private school near Hosur, his wife Tanuja (25), Chetan (8 months), Moulyashree (4), Soundarrajan (48), Sarala (32), Rajendra (27), Rathnamma (52), Gowramma (60) and Trishanya (14), all belonging to the same family. Those killed in the other SUV are Lakshmikanth (24), Sandeep (36) and Madhu (28).</p>.<p class="CrossHead">Locals in tears</p>.<p>Locals were shocked upon hearing the news as the taluk had never seen so many deaths in a single accident before. Hundreds of villagers flocked the accident site. The sight of the eight-month-old baby who died clutching onto his mother while being fed without any scar moved the public and women constables who were on duty to tears.</p>
