26 of marriage party killed (Lead, Changing dateline)

MYSORE - As many as 26 people returning from a wedding feast died Tuesday when their vehicle fell into a tank near this Karnataka city, police said.

The vehicle was on way to Pandavpura from the temple town of Nanjangud, about 50 km away, when it met with the accident in Mandakalli village, 12 km from Mysore, a police spokesperson said.

“Twenty-six bodies have been brought to the Krishna Rajendra hospital,” Mysore Deputy Commissioner of Police Rajendra Prasad told IANS. A majority of the dead were women. Two women swam ashore, Prasad said.

Wailing relatives of the dead rushed to the hospital, and some to the accident site, as news of the ghastly incident spread in Pandavapura, to which most of the victims belonged.

The cause of the accident would be known after interrogating the driver who seemed to have lost control of the vehicle, police said.

In Bangalore, the Karnataka government announced Rs.100,000 compensation to the kin of the dead.