A 46-year-old man, a Sabarimala pilgrim, died when a minibus carrying Ayyappa devotees from Tamil Nadu collided with a goods truck near Aryankavu check post here on Wednesday morning, police said.
The bus plunged 100 metres into a gorge on the National Highway at Aryankavu.
An officer of Thenmala police station said 19 others were injured in the accident which occurred around 4.30 am.
The minibus was returning to Tamil Nadu from Sabarimala with around 24 pilgrims when it collided head-on with the goods truck, also from the neighbouring state, he said.
Of the injured, 17 are undergoing treatment at a Taluk hospital at Punalur while two others have been referred to the Thiruvananthapuram government medical college, the officer said.
The deceased, identified as Dhanapalan, hailed from Salem in Tamil Nadu.
The exact cause of the accident is yet to be ascertained, he added. However, it has been learnt that this is an accident-prone area.
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