Bhind, Aug 18:
Eight labourers were killed and 32 others injured after their pick-up vehicle collided with a truck in Madhya Pradesh’s Bhind district in the wee hours of Tuesday, police said.
The accident occurred around 1 am near Chhimka village on the Bhind-Gwalior National Highway.
The labourers were returning to their village in Lakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh, after completing paddy transplantation work in Gwalior.
Preliminary investigations suggested that the driver of the labourers’ vehicle, while trying to save cattle sitting on the highway, lost control of the wheels. As a result, the vehicle went in the wrong direction and collided with a dumper truck coming from the opposite direction, Gohad Chauraha police station in-charge Ramnaresh Yadav said.
Due to the impact of the collision, the vehicle was badly damaged, and several labourers were trapped inside, he said.
Eight labourers were killed. Five of them died on the spot, while three succumbed on the way to the hospital. As many as 32 others suffered injuries in the head-on collision, the official said.
The police rushed to the spot after being alerted. They rescued the workers trapped inside the vehicle with the help of locals.
All the injured persons were immediately rushed to a hospital in Gohad, where they were provided first aid. The seriously injured persons were referred to Gwalior for treatment, the police added.