Two persons were electrocuted to death and three others suffered electric shock when an empty chapparam (temple car) of Somasundara Vinayakar temple in Chokkanathanpuththur near Rajapalayam hit against an electric transformer on Wednesday night.
The deceased K. Marimuthu (23) who owns a brick-kiln, S. Muneeswaran (24), who worked in a medical shop, were part of a Vinayakar Charturthi idol procession.
The injured are M. Selvakrishnan (32), O. Chellapandian (44) and S. Muppidathi (20), all from Chokkanathanpuththur. The injured have been admitted to the Government Hospital at Sivagiri in the adjoining Tenkasi district.
The police said at least 50 persons took part in the Vinayakar idol procession in the streets near the temple, conducted on the occasion of Vinayagar Chaturthi.
After the procession, the idol was brought down from the chapparam. The victims were pushing the empty chapparam to park it away from the temple. While pushing it closer to the street, they failed tonotice the transmission of electricity through electric cables along the street.
The iron structure used for decoration in the chapparam hit the overhead electric cable through which Marimuthu and Muneeswaran suffered electrocution.
Alerted by their screams, three others tried to save the duo but they also suffered shock. However, as the power supply had tripped by then, they escaped with injuries.
Revenue Minister, K.K.S.S.R. Ramachandran and Industries Minister, Thangam Thennarsu, on Thursday morning visited the injured at the hospital and enquired about their health. The Ministers, along with the district Collector, J. Meghanath Reddy, also consoled the family members of the deceased.
