Chikkaballapur, Oct 26 (IANS) As many as 13 people were killed after an SUV rammed into a parked truck on the Bengaluru-Hyderabad National Highway-44 on the outskirts of Chikkaballapur near Bengaluru on Thursday.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah stated that he will pray to the souls of the deceased and announced Rs 2 lakh compensation for the families of all deceased persons.

The police have identified 12 bodies and one person’s identity is yet to be ascertained. The deceased are Aruna (32), a resident of Doddaballapur city, Narasimhamurthy (37), a resident of Margakunte in Bagepalli, Narasimhappa (40) from Kaligere near Gorantla in Andhra Pradesh.

Ruthwik (6), a resident of Doddaballapur, Perimal Pavankumar (32) from Kottacheruvu in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh, Subbamma aka Venkatalakshmamma (45), a resident of Vrushabhavathi Nagar in Bengaluru, Shantamma (37) and Rajavardhan (15), a resident of Gownipenta village near Penukonda in Andhra Pradesh.

Narayanappa (50) from Marakorapalli in Andhra Pradesh, A. Venkataramana (51) from Navaba Kota in Andhra Pradesh, Bellala Venkatadri (32) and Bellala Laxmi (20) from Vanavolu village near Gorantla in Andhra Pradesh.

The bodies have been kept in the premises of the Chikkaballapura mortuary. Chikkaballapura MLA Pradeep Eshwar and district commissioner visited the mortuary and condoled the deaths.

A thick layer of morning mist blocked the driver's vision leading to the tragedy. Chikkaballapur Superintendent of Police (SP), D.L. Nagesh stated that the SUV crashed into a truck from the rear killing 13 people.

While five persons were killed on the spot, seven others succumbed to the injuries on the way to hospital and one died at the hospital. Due to the impact of the collision, the doors of the car got jammed and the locals and police had to break them open to rescue the victims.

Further investigation is on.