Two men were killed and four others sustained injuries when a huge chariot of a popular temple in Papparapatti in Tamil Nadu’s Dharmapuri district capsized on Monday, the police have said. A video of the incident shows the chariot was a part of a procession when it tilted and collapsed onto a crowd of people walking in front of it. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has expressed grief over the incident and announced a cash relief of Rs 5 lakh each to the families of the deceased.
The incident occurred when the decorated chariot of the Kaliamman temple was being taken around the streets of Papparapatti near the place of worship, as part of the Vaikasi festival. "The chariot overturned all of a sudden and two men who got caught under the chariot's wooden wheel died," a senior police officer said.
The devotees who were pulling the chariot and those watching the procession immediately rushed to the rescue of those trapped under the chariot, he said. The deceased have been identified as C Manoharan (57) and G Saravanan (50) from Dharmapuri district.
Meanwhile, the Chief Minister extended his condolences to the families of the deceased. In a statement in Chennai, he said four persons have been injured in the accident and were undergoing treatment at the Dharmapuri Government Medical College Hospital.
Besides the ex-gratia to the families of the two men who were killed, Stalin also announced a sum of Rs 50,000 each for the injured persons, adding the money will be provided from the Chief Minister's Public Relief Fund (CMPRF).
In April, a temple procession in Thanjavur turned tragic after 11 people were electrocuted when the chariot came into contact with a high tension transmission line. The temple car was negotiating a turn and faced some obstacle before being reversed when it came into contact with the overhead line, police and eyewitnesses said. The people standing on the chariot were thrown off it in the impact. Three children were among those killed.