Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin announced a solatium of Rs 2 lakh for the eight Sabarimala pilgrims who died in a road accident in the wee hours of Saturday.
The Chief Minister, in a statement, also announced Rs 50,000 for the two injured in the mishap.
Ten pilgrims from Andipetti, Theni district of Tamil Nadu were returning back home when their vehicle fell into a deep gorge while driving through a hairpin bend at Kumali in the Kerala border. Eight of them died on the spot while two including a child suffered grievous injuries and are undergoing treatment at Theni government hospital.
The deceased are Muniyandi (55), Devadas( 56), Kanniswamy (56), Nagaraj(46). Vinod (47), Kalaiselvan (45), Sivakumar(47) and driver of the vehicle, Gopalakrishnan(42). Those who escaped with grievous injuries are Raja (41) and his 7-year-old son.
A senior police officer told IANS that the vehicle was at a high speed and the driver was not able to control the vehicle at the hairpin bend leading to the accident.
Sabarimala, the hill shrine in Kerala, is open for the season and a heavy rush is witnessed at the temple for the past few days.
After a two-year break due to the Covid pandemic, this year has seen a huge number of pilgrims from Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telengana, Andhra Predesh and Puducherry visiting the temple which is in the top of a hill.
According to Kerala police, which is manning the heavy rush at the temple, more than a lakh people are visiting the hill shrine every day leading to a queue of more than 10 to 12 hours for each pilgrim to get a glimpse of Lord Ayyappa, the presiding deity of Sabarimala temple.
–IANS