Karnataka mishap! Seven travelling to friend's wedding dead after car rams into truck

Shivamogga: Seven men travelling to attend a friend's wedding died in a road accident in central Karnataka when the car they were in crashed into the rear of a truck, police said on Thursday.

The mishap occurred around Wednesday midnight when the speeding multi-utility vehicle rammed into the rear side of a truck carrying timber near Muddinakoppa, in this district, on the state highway, Shivamogga district Additional Superintendent of Police M. Muthuraj told IANS.

The victims, aged between 25-45 years, were travelling from Bengaluru to Sagara town in Malnad region to attend their friend`s wedding on Thursday.

The accident spot is about 100km from Shivamogga and 405km from Bengaluru.

The victims were identified as Madhu, car driver, Praveen, a make-up artist, Mallesh, Sridhar, Rajesekhar, Raghavendra and Manjunath.

Police had a tough time extricating the victims` bodies from the mangled vehicle, which got stuck to the truck`s rear side on impact.

The accident also led to blocked vehicular traffic on the busy highway for over three hours post-midnight.

"The unidentified truck driver escaped in the dark. A search is on to nab him. He seems to have suddenly applied the brake, resulting in the collision from behind," said Muthuraj.