Thrissur: A man died on Tuesday night after a lorry struck him while he was trying to rescue a kitten trapped on the road near Mango Bakery at the Mannuthy–Kalathode junction here. The deceased Sijo Timothy (44) was a resident of Ollukkara.

According to eyewitnesses, a cat attempted to rescue her kitten from the middle of the road but could not reach it due to heavy traffic. Sijo, who was riding a motorbike, stopped to help.

As he bent down to pick up the kitten, a lorry hit him and flung him into the path of an oncoming car. Locals rushed Sijo to a private hospital in Thrissur, but doctors could not save his life.