Thirteen people were killed and four others injured after a mini-bus hit a parked truck on the Pune-Bangalore Highway in Karnataka on Friday morning. While 11 people, including two children aged six and four, died on the spot, two others died during treatment at a hospital.
The accident took place near Gundenahalli crossing in Haveri district at 3.45 am and 17 people were travelling in the mini bus.
The victims, residents of Shivamogga, had travelled to the Belagavi district for a pilgrimage and were returning home when the accident occurred.
The injured have been admitted to a hospital and two of them are in a critical condition, police said. While the cause of the accident is not known, police suspect that the mini-bus's driver fell asleep at the wheel.
"The victims were coming from Chincholi Mayamma Devasthana and heading to their native Yemehatti village in Shivamogga district. The lorry was standing on the side of the highway. The tempo traveller hit the lorry from behind," Anshu Kumar Srivastava, Superintendent of Police (Haveri) told news agency PTI.