13 killed, 3 injured in Karnataka car crash

NEW DELHI: Thirteen people were killed and three seriously injured when a car and an SUV collided in the early hours of Friday at Bayaladakere Gate of Kunigal Taluk in the Tumkur distict of Karnataka. According to local police, three youth in a Vitara Brezza were travelling from Bangalore to Dharmasthala, a popular pilgrimage centre near Mangalore .

The police suspect the driver of Brezza lost control and hit the road divider before crashing into a Chevorlet Tavera. All the 13 passengers travelling in the Tavera were from Hosur in Tamil Nadu and were returning after darshan at Kukke Subramanya and Dharmasthala.

“The 13 members travelling in the Tavera belong to the same family. They had gone to Dharmasthala for Mundan (a traditional first head shaving ritual) of the nine-month-old child of Manjunath, who is believed to have been driving the Tavera. They had left Hosur on March 4 and were on their way back. The accident happened around 3 am in the morning,” a police official of Amaraturu said.

Of the 13 members in the Tavera, the 10 killed includ Manjunath (35), Tanuja (25), Gowramma (60), Ratnamma (52), Sunderrajan (48), Rajendra (27), Sarala (32), and Prashnaya (14), Malashree (4) and the nine-month-old child. Shwetha (32), Arshita (12) and Gangotri (14) are battling for life and have been shifted from the Tumkur government hospital to a private hospital in Bangalore. All the three occupants of the Brezza, Lakshmikanth (24), Sandeep (36) and Madhu (28) were killed on the spot.

“Twelve people were killed while a child died in the hospital,” District superintendent of police Vamshi Krishna said.