At least 13 persons, including women and children, were killed and five critically wounded when an SUV collided with a car that had crashed against a road divider moments ago near Kunigal in Tumakuru district of Karnataka in the early hours of Friday, police said.

Of the victims, while 12 died on the spot, a child breathed his last in a hospital, they added.

The injured were admitted to the hospital, the police said.

Among the dead, 10 were from Tamil Nadu and three from Bengaluru. All of them were pilgrims who were on their way to Dharmasthala in Karnataka.

There were five women and two children among the dead, the police said.

'Thirteen persons have died. The incident occurred post midnight. A car crashed against the road divider and another car collided with it,' Tumakuru superintendent of police (SP) K. Vamsi Krishna told PTI.

The police had to struggle to pull the bodies out from the mangled vehicles.

On learning about the incident, relatives of the victims rushed to the spot.