Mysuru: It was to be a joyous occasion. But tragedy struck a marriage party en route to a wedding Sunday night as the driver of their cantor reportedly lost control and hit a tree on the Maddur-Tumkur state highway near Maachahalli, Maddur , killing 13 people and injuring 60 others. The dead included a child and the bride’s sister. The marriage party comprised some 80 villagers , all relatives of the bride, from Avasaradahalli and Yedanahalli villages in Maddur taluk, according to the police.
While the wedding was scheduled to take place on Monday, it was decided to have the couple married during the reception that was already underway Sunday evening as news of the tragedy reached the venue. “As the reception was already underway, the groom, Shivalli, from Kunigal taluk tied the mangalsutra around the bride’s neck as there could be no grand wedding following the accident The cantor, carrying people from Avasaradahalli, had picked up more relatives from Yadanahalli, and was heading to the wedding venue when the accident took place,” said family sources.
While some of the injured are being treated at the government hospital in Maddur and the Mandya Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital, some were referred to Nimhans and the Kempe Gowda Institute of Medical Sciences in Bengaluru and the KR hospital and JSS hospital in Mysuru. District in-charge minister, M Krishnappa, who visited the injured in Mandya, announced a compensation of Rs 1 lakh for the families of each of the dead and Rs 25,000 for each of the injured, and also assured that the government would bear the cost their treatment. The bodies were handed over to relatives after the autopsy at MIMS, Mandya and the Kesthur police registered a case. The driver, who survived the accident, is absconding.
