Karnataka

Six Shabari Malai pilgrims die in road accident in Ballari

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BALLARI:  Batri, a locality in the 31st ward of the Ballari City Corporation, woke up on Tuesday morning to the shock of the death of six Shabari Malai pilgrims and injury of four teenagers, in a road accident that occurred between Molakalmuru and Hangal in Chitradurga district.

All of them were returning to Ballari from the pilgrimage to Shabari Malai in a Tavera SUV when a lorry coming from the opposite direction rammed into their vehicle.

After the news of the accident broke, people in the locality helped the grieving family members.

As many as 40 persons from the locality had gone in different vehicles to Shabari Malai. A couple of groups stayed back to see the ‘makara jyoti’, while other groups, who had seen the ‘jyoti’ earlier, decided to return. Of them, two vehicles were heading towards Ballari via Molakalmuru, enquiries revealed.

The four injured have been admitted to VIMS hospital in the city.

Relatives of the deceased immediately rushed to Molkalmuru to bring the bodies back after the post-mortem.

“Lanki Reddy, one of the deceased, had called his wife at around 4.00 a.m. to inform that he along with others, were near Molakalmuru and would be reaching Ballari by 6.00 a.m. But by 6.00 a.m., the news of his death had come”, a grief stricken relative of the deceased told The Hindu.

One of the residents of the locality informed that all the six deceased were the bread-earners of their respective families and were the only sons to each of the parents.

“We are all worried about the family of Murali, a dhobi. For, he was the lone bread-earner in the family comprising of his mother, who is mentally ill and weak and an aged grandmother. Murali toiled as an agricultural labourer to eke out a living,” another localite informed.

The names of the deceased are given as Honnurswamy (30), Lanki Reddy (35), Satish (18) Ramu (25) Murali (25) and Tirumal (23). Keshav (14), Vijay (15) Kumaraswamy (30) and Veeresh (25) were injured and admitted to VIMS hospital.

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