MUMBAI – At least 11 people, including two children, were electrocuted, according to Indian authorities, when their vehicle snagged overhead transmission lines and burst into flames as they rode in a religious procession in southern India.
More than a dozen people were also injured in the town of Thanjavur in the southern state of Tamil Nadu after the vehicle, a three-meter-high structure in the shape of a chariot pulled by worshipers, struck power lines.
“I hope the injured recover quickly,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Twitter, expressing his condolences to the bereaved families.
Some of the injured were injured when they either fell from the vehicle after the electric shock or jumped to escape the flames engulfing the chariot, which, in addition to the devotees, also carried statues of Hindu gods.
The chariot, on its way to a nearby temple, was left a charred ruin.
