3 Ayyappa devotees die in accident

BATLAGUNDU: Three Ayyappa devotees were killed and two others injured in an accident near Salaiputhur village along the Theni-Dindigul NH on Monday.A group of 22 Ayyappa devotees from Jayankondam were on their way to Palani Temple in a van, after visiting Sabarimala. They stopped for a while near a roadside pond near Salaiputhur. As road widening work was in progress on the Theni-Dindigul NH, they parked their vehicle on the mud road far from the main road and took bath in the pond. A few of them were standing near the van on the right side of the road when a speeding car, coming in the opposite direction, rammed into them. Three devotees - Elayaperumal (70), Peter (60) and Dakshina Murthy (53) of Kamarajapuram in Ariyalur district were killed on the spot and two others - Kulanjinathan (32) and Arumaidass (32) of the same place - sustained severe injuries. The injured were given first aid at the Batlagundu GH and later shifted to the Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai.