Three persons died on the spot and three were seriously injured when their car collided head-on with a lorry at Chunchanahalli on the Srirangapatna–Bidar highway early on Sunday.
The dead were identified as Nanjappa (62), his wife Jalajakshi (56) and her cousin Ratnamma (53). The injured are Nanjappa’s daughter Anitha (30), Nanjappa’s sons-in-law Sridhar and Raju.
They were taken to a private hospital near Adichunchanagiri, the Bellur police said.
The police said the victims, are all residents of Railway Station Road near Krishnaraja Sagar in Srirangapatna.
They were returning home from Tumakuru.
Preliminary investigation indicated that the car driver could have fallen asleep at the wheel and lost control of the vehicle.
The car had come to the right side of the highway and collided with the lorry that was transporting goods from Kerala, a senior police officer said.
Or, the police said, the car driver might have attempted to overtake a vehicle and failed to notice the lorry that was coming in the opposite direction, resulting in the accident. “It is yet to be ascertained who was behind the wheel,” the officer told The Hindu.
The car was badly damaged, and all the three persons were killed instantaneously. The condition of the injured was critical, the officer said. A case has been registered.
