5 Ayyappa devotees Die

13th Jan, 2011: 5 Ayyappa devotees from Andhra Pradesh were killed on the spot and 4 others sustained injuries, when the SUV in which they were travelling collided with a stationary lorry, on the Madurai Road in Tamil Nadu, early on Thursday.

The victims have been identified as Narender, Balaraju, Murali, Srinivas and Sai, hailing from Begumpet in Kandukur mandal - Ranga Reddy district.

According to Tamil Nadu police, the bodies have been shifted to a government hospital in Madurai, for post mortem. The condition of the injured is stated to be serious.

The mishap took place when the Ayyappa devotees were on their way to Andhra Pradesh, in the ill-fated SUV, from Sabarimalai in Kerala, after a darshan of Lord Ayyappa. According to sources, the SUV rammed the stationary lorry from behind.

With Thursday’s mishap, the number of Ayyappa devotees killed in road accidents this year has risen to 17.

9 Ayyappa devotees, including a 12-year-old boy, were killed on January 2 when their MUV rammed a stationary lorry at Salem, in Tamil Nadu. These victims belonged to Chittoor.

In another mishap that took place on January 10, at Idigundi in Yellapur, Karnataka, 3 Ayyappa devotees were killed on the spot, when the tourist bus in which they were travelling hit a car and veered off the road, to plunge into a gorge. The victims were from Marredpally in Secunderabad.

A large number of devotees, clad in black, make their way to the Sabarimalai temple in Kerala, where the Hindu god Ayyappa is worshipped. Hindus believe that Ayyappa is the son of Shiva and Parvathi.

The temple is open for the public till January 15, when the ‘Makaravillukku’ appears above the Western Ghats.