THENI: Eight Sabarimala pilgrims died while two others, including a 7-year-old boy, suffered injuries when a sport utility vehicle (SUV) they were travelling in plunged into a 40-foot-deep gorge in Theni district of Tamil Nadu on Friday night.
According to police, 10 devotees from Andipatti in Theni district went to Sabarimala on Thursday. The accident happened on the Kumali ghat road around 11pm on Friday while they were returning home. The driver lost control of the SUV, and it plunged into the gorge.
Seven of the devotees died on the spot while three others were rushed to Theni Government Medical College Hospital. One of the injured died in hospital.
The deceased have been identified as, P Muniyandi, 55, P Devadas, 55, N Kannichamy, 55, R Nagaraj, 46, S Vinoth, 47, S Sivakumar, 45, M Kalaichelvan, 45, and driver of the car A Gopalakrishnan, 42.
The injured have been identified as N Raja, 40, and his son R Hariharan, 7.
Theni district collector K V Muralidharan visited the injured in the hospital.
The Theni district police and fire and rescue services personnel recovered the bodies and lifted the SUV from the gorge. The Kumuli police registered a case in the incident.