Mumbai: Seven medical students, including a Bharatiya Janata Party MLA’s son, were killed in a road accident in Maharashtra.
The incident occurred around 1.30 am today near Selsura village in Wardha district, 77 km away from Nagpur, in east Maharashtra. Officials said that all seven students died on the spot.
One of the seven students, Avishkar Rahangdale, was the son of Tirora BJP MLA Vijay Rahangdale. He was a first-year MBBS student of the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College at Sawangi (Meghe) in Wardha.
According to officials, the SUV was being driven by one of the students who all were returning from neighbouring Yavatmal district after celebrating the birthday of a student. Due to the impact of the crash, the SUV was reduced to pulp.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the deaths of the students and announced Rs 2 lakh each from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) for the families of those who lost their lives in the accident.
‘Pained by the loss of lives due to an accident near Selsura in Maharashtra. In this hour of sadness, my thoughts are with those who have lost their loved ones. I pray that those injured are able to recover soon,’ he said.
‘All seven occupants in the car are dead. No other vehicle is involved in the accident. We received information from the control room after which we reached the spot,’ said Babasaheb Thorat, Assistant Inspector of Sawangi police station.
He added: ‘The Xylo car was moving from Devli to Wardha and was on an over-bridge when the driver lost control over the wheels and the car hit the boundary wall and fell over the bridge.’
According to a preliminary probe, the person driving the car, in order to avoid the animal, swerved hard on the wheel, resulting in the vehicle falling into a ditch under a culvert. The impact killed the students, said Wardha SP Prashant Holkar.