New Delhi, Eight pilgrims returning from Sabarimala died after falling into a 40-feet-deep gorge at Kumily mountain pass in Theni district. All the passengers in the vehicle were residents of Theni-Andipetti. District Collector K.V. Muralidharan said that around 10 people were returning to the car after visiting the Sabarimala temple when the driver lost control of the vehicle.
After hitting a mountain, the car fell into a 40 feet deep ravine, killing seven people on the spot. Read national news here.
According to media reports, the police official said that policemen from Kerala and Tamil Nadu were pressed into service to protect passengers. Police said that 7 of the 10 passengers in the vehicle died on the spot, while another died on the way to the hospital. The remaining two injured have been admitted to the hospital for treatment.
A 3-year-old child is also included in the injured. Ten devotees of Ayyappa, residents of Sammugasundarapuram village near Andipatti, were on their way home after visiting Sabarimala when their car met with an accident late on Friday night, police said. Police have registered a case regarding the accident. In the preliminary investigation, the police suspect that dense fog may have been the cause of the accident.
A news agency said that a 9-year-old child is also included among the two rescued people. He was seriously injured and was rushed to a nearby government hospital where he was given first aid. Currently, thousands of devotees visit the Lord Sabarimala temple in Kerala every day.
The Sabarimala temple is at its peak with the annual Mandalam-Makaravilakku pilgrimage season. 10 to 15 million pilgrims visit Sabarimala every year during the peak season. Tamil Nadu is set to see a rise in road accident deaths in 2021, while states including Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Haryana and Jharkhand have recorded a decline in the number of such deaths compared to the pre-epidemic 2019, according to new government data.
The states where the death rate has increased include Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Bihar. According to the report, the data shows that Tamil Nadu recorded 15,384 deaths in 2021 compared to 10,525 deaths in 2019.SS1MS