Nine persons were killed and 11 were injured when a van carrying 20 passengers collided with a truck loaded with LPG cylinders, between Kampalapura and Chilkunda in Periyapatna taluk about 55 km from Mysore on Wednesday.
The van driver was among the dead.
Two families The accident took place at around 5.30 a.m. and the victims, all belonging to two families from Deralakatte in Mangalore, were returning home after visiting the Muthupet Dargah in Tiruvarur district of Tamil Nadu.
The dead were identified as Mohammad Mustafa Samoon (1 year and 4 months), Isham (4), Safeeda (6), Asiyamma (60), Hajira (45), Junaid (30), Amiruddin (55) and Fouzia (24) and van driver Sarfuddin (36).
The injured are Raziya, Afsa and Afrid who are being treated at Apollo BGS Hospital, while Bushra, Safa, Ishan, Iqbal, Hifaz, Samnaz, Arif, Ismail and Zeenath are being treated at Bhanavi Hospital.
The condition of Hifaz, Raziya and Samnaz is said to be serious.
Inquiry Deputy Superintendent of Police Dhananjay told The Hindu that preliminary inquiry indicated that the driver must have dozed off after driving through the night, resulting in the accident.
On receiving information, local people from Periyapatna rushed to the spot and volunteered to shift the injured to Mysore and assisted the police.
The relatives of the dead were informed in Mangalore and they reached Periyapatna to receive the bodies after post-mortem.
Minister for Health and Family Welfare U.T. Khader reached Periyapatna and commiserated with the bereaved family members.
Periyapatna police have registered a case. Investigation is on.
