Karnataka: Nine of marriage party killed in Dharwad mishap

DHARWAD: Nine people, including three children, of a marriage party died and 12 others were injured after their vehicle hit a tree near Baad village on the Dharwad-Haliyal road, 15 km from Dharwad, late on Friday night.
The overloaded Cruiser tempo had 21 passengers. They were returning to their village Nigadi after attending the pre-wedding ritual of a relative in Mansur when the driver lost control over the vehicle and rammed a roadside tree.
Seven of the passengers died on the spot while two succumbed to injuries at the hospital, said police. The impact of the accident was such that police had to remove pieces of the badly mangled vehicle to rescue the injured and extricate the bodies of the dead.
Police said the reason for the accident was overloading and rash driving. Manjunath Dasanakopp’s wedding, which was to take place at his residence in Nigadi, was shifted to a hall in Mansur village due to heavy rain lashing the district during the past three days. All the occupants of the vehicle were returning to Nigadi after the pre-wedding ceremony on Friday evening.
The wedding was to take place on Saturday. The deceased have been identified as Ananya Mallappa Dasanakopp (14) of Doddawad, Madhushri Basavaraj Dasanakopp (17), Harish Prakash Angadi (13), Shilpa Shivanand Dasanakopp (34), Shambhulingayya Channabasayya Hiremath (35) of Nigadi-Benakatti, Neelavva Kallappa Dasanakopp (60) of Dharwad, Maheshwar Totad (11) of Govanakoppa and Channamma Nigadi (46) of Morab in Navalgund taluk.