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Five friends were killed late on Thursday night after their car crashed into a parked lorry on National Highway 150 (A) near Tumakuruhalli Gate in Karnataka’s Chitradurga district, police said.

Police identified the deceased as Raghavendra (40), Pramod (36), Rudresh (30), Somashekhar (35), and Mallikarjuna (35), all residents of Challakere. (iStock/ Representative photo)Police identified the deceased as Raghavendra (40), Pramod (36), Rudresh (30), Somashekhar (35), and Mallikarjuna (35), all residents of Challakere.

Deputy superintendent of police Satyanarayana Rao said the group was travelling from Hanagal to Challakere when the accident took place at 9:45 pm near the Beedur–Srirangapatna stretch of the highway in Molakalmuru.

“The five men were travelling by car from Hanagal to Challakere around 9:45 pm on Thursday night. The car was moving at high speed on the highway near Tumakuruhalli Gate when one of its tyres suddenly burst. The driver lost control of the vehicle, which then rammed at great speed into the rear side of a lorry parked along the roadside,” the officer said.

He said the impact completely crushed the vehicle and all five occupants died on the spot.

A police team from Molakalmuru police station reached the spot after receiving information about the crash. With assistance from locals, the bodies were recovered from the mangled vehicle and shifted to a nearby government hospital for postmortem.