TIRUVANNAMALAI: A temple visit ended in tragedy for a group of people who came from Karnataka after seven people, including two children, were killed when their car collided head-on with a truck on Sunday.

According to Chengam town police, the accident on the Tiruvannamalai-Bengaluru highway killed Satish Kumar (40), his children Sarveswaran (6) and Siddhu (3), his father-in-law Srinivasan (60), Malar (53), Manikandan (37) and Hemanth Kumar (32) on the spot.

Satish’s wife, Kavya (35), sustained severe injuries and is undergoing treatment at the Tiruvannamalai Government Medical College hospital.

When they were returning to Bengaluru after visiting the Mel Malayanur temple, the car collided head-on with a lorry on Anthanur bypass road near Chengam. The car was reduced to a mangled heap, and the police, Fire Services and Rescue personnel, and locals struggled to retrieve the occupants.

The driver of the lorry, which was heading to Tiruvannamalai, abandoned the vehicle and fled the scene. Collector B Murugesh and SP Karthikeyan visited the spot and the hospital.