14 killed in two Karnataka road mishaps

As many as 14 people, including eight women and two children, died Sunday in two separate road mishaps in northern and southern Karnataka, police said.

"Nine people, including six women, were killed when a truck rammed into a car, a maxi cab and two-wheeler after its tyre burst on National Highway 4, about 60 km from Belgaum in this northern district," Belgaum superintendent of police Chandra Gupta told IANS.

Belgaum is about 505 km northwest of Bangalore.

Six of the victims on board the Tata Magic maxi cab were returning to Belgaum from Sankeshwar temple on the Karnataka-Maharashtra border after the 10-day Ganesh festival when the mishap took place.

"The truck driver lost control of the vehicle after its front tyre burst and crashed first into a car, then fell on the maxi cab and the two-wheeler in succession. Of the three other male victims, two were in the car and a third on a bike," Gupta said.

Though the truck driver and his assistant fled from the accident spot, police registered a case against them and the truck owner under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

In another mishap near Kunigal in Tumkur district, about 70 km from Bangalore, five people, including two women and two children, died and three others were injured when the car in which they were travelling fell into a water canal from a road bridge.

"The victims' family was returning to Bangalore from Channarayapatna in Hassan district (150 km from Bangalore) when their driver lost control of the car after it first hit the divider and then crashed into the bridge railings before plunging into the canal 50 feet below," Kunigal deputy superintendent of police Uma Rani told IANS.

The three injured were rushed to Tumkur hospital for treatment.

According to eyewitness, the car hit the median after its front tyre burst at high speed and hit the railings.