Pathanamthitta: Four members of a family, including a newlywed couple, were killed after their car collided with a bus carrying Sabarimala pilgrims at Murinjakal in Koodal here in the early hours of Sunday. The deceased have been identified as Konni Mallassery natives Mathayi Eappen, Anu, Nikhil, and Biju George.

The accident occurred while the family was returning home from Thiruvananthapuram airport. Anu, the daughter of Biju, and Nikhil, the son of Eappen, reached the airport after their honeymoon in Malaysia. It is learnt that Nikhil was employed in Canada. The couple entered wedlock on November 30.

The crash took place around 4. 05 a.m. on the stretch of Punalur-Muvattupuzha state highway. Police assumed that the car collided with the bus carrying pilgrims from Andhra Pradesh after the driver fell asleep at the wheel. A few passengers of the bus including the driver sustained minor injuries in the collision.

The Police and Fire Force rushed to the scene and extricated the four individuals trapped inside the car using a hydraulic cutter. But the three men were killed on the spot, while the woman succumbed to her injuries at a private hospital in Pathanamthitta. 

Anu's body is currently kept in the private hospital's mortuary, while the mortal remains of the three men are at Konni Taluk Hospital. Manorama News reported that inquest procedures have begun, and the last rites of the four will be performed once Nikhil's sister, who is in Kuwait, returns home.

Local residents have alleged that accidents are becoming increasingly frequent on this stretch of the Punalur-Muvattupuzha state highway, following the recent reconstruction of the road.