The two-year-old daughter of violinist and music composer Balabhaskar died while the musician and his wife suffered serious injuries in a car accident in Kerala early on Tuesday.

Police said the car in which they were travelling to Thiruvananthapuram after offering prayers at a temple in Thrissur, 280km away, rammed into a tree after the driver dozed off at the wheel around 4.30am. The accident took place near Thiruvananthapuram, around 10km from Balabhaskar’s home.

While Balabhaskar, 40, was sleeping in the rear seat, his wife Lakshmi was sleeping in the front seat with little Tajasvini on her lap.

Passers-by alerted police, who rushed the family to a nearby private hospital where the child passed away.

The couple are in the intensive care unit of the hospital with serious injuries.

A hospital source said Balabhaskar had suffered a neck injury besides several broken ribs, and Lakshmi had a head injury and fractured limbs.

Considering the seriousness of his injury, the violinist has been put on a ventilator. Balabhaskar will have to undergo at least one major surgery to correct the spinal injury in the neck, said the hospital source.

The driver, Arjun, suffered fractured limbs. The front of the car had been destroyed.

Balabhaskar is a hugely popular stage artiste known for his signature style of playing the violin. He has performed in several countries.

Trained in Carnatic classical music under his uncle Sasi, himself a well-known artiste, Balabhaskar has composed songs and background scores for several Malayalam films.

One of the Kerala musicians who played an active role in relief operations during the recent floods in the state, Balabhaskar was due to perform at a fund-raising concert in Bangalore on October 7 for reconstruction activities in Kerala and Karnataka’s Kodagu.