Kottayam/Tiruchirappalli, April 13: Twelve pilgrims were killed and 49 injured, four seriously, in two different road accidents in Kerala and Tamil Nadu on Sunday, police said.

Six Ayyappa devotees from Tamil Nadu were killed and 47 injured when their private bus fell into a ditch at Kanamala near Erumeli in Kottayam district today, police said.

The devotees, hailing from Tirunelveli district, were returning after worshipping at the Sabarimala Temple.

Of the injured, 24 pilgrims were admitted at the Taluk hospital in Kanjirapally, 13 in Kottayam Medical College and 10 at the Primary Health Centre, Erumeli.

The deceased, who have been identified, included the bus driver Subramaniam, police said.

Four bodies were kept at Taluk Hospital, Kanjirapally and two at Medical College Hospital, Kottayam, police said.

In the accident at Tiruchirappalli in Tamil Nadu, six persons of a family from Olappurackal in Kaduthuruthy near Kottayam, were killed and two children injured when their van, proceeding to the Christian Pilgrim Centre at Vailankanni, collided with a state-owned transport corporation bus early today.