MUMBAI — At least 11 people, including two children, were electrocuted to death when their vehicle snagged overhead transmission lines and burst into flames as they rode in a religious procession in southern India, according to Indian authorities.

       More than a dozen people were also injured in the city of Thanjavur in the southern state of Tamil Nadu after the vehicle, a nine-foot-high structure fashioned in the form of a chariot and pulled by worshipers, hit the high-voltage lines.

       “I hope those injured recover soon,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Twitter, as he offered condolences to the bereaved.

       Some of the injured were hurt when they either fell off the vehicle following the electric shock or when they jumped to escape the flames that engulfed the chariot, which carried statues of Hindu deities in addition to the devotees.

       The chariot, which had been wending its way back to a nearby temple, was left a charred ruin.