At least 12 people were killed and five injured after a dumper truck rammed into an SUV in Jalgaon district in north Maharashtra on Sunday night, the police said.
The accident occurred near Hingola village in Yawal tehsil (450 km from Pune). According to the police, all the victims were believed to be members of a single family. “The family and kin of Prabhakar Narayan Chaudhari were on their way to their homes in Chinchol, Mehul and Nimbol villages after attending a wedding in Chopra when the mishap occurred between 11 p.m. and 11.30 p.m.,” an official from Faizpur police station said.
A dumper truck coming from the opposite direction hit the SUV. The intensity of the collision caused Chaudhari, his wife, and eight others of their kin travelling in the SUV to die on the spot, the official said. Two others succumbed to their injuries while undergoing treatment.
The deceased have been identified as Chaudhari (60), his wife Prabhabai (in her mid-40s), his son Shivam Chaudhari (19), Mangalabai Chaudhari (65), Sonali Chaudhari (34), Priyanka Chaudhari (29), Ashlesha Chaudhari (28), Riya Chaudhari (29), Sumanbai Patil (55), Sangeeta Patil (40), Sonali Mahajan (34), and the driver of the vehicle, Dhanraj Tayde.
Five others, including a nine-year-old girl, sustained injuries and were taken to hospitals in Jalgaon where they are presently being treated.
The Jalgaon police said the driver of the dumper, Mukund Ganesh Bhangale, who too was injured, was arrested and booked for rash driving and negligence under sections of the Indian Penal Code. A pall of gloom descended upon Chinchol and Nimbol villages as the bodies were handed over to their kin.
This is the second major accident to rock north Maharashtra in little more than a week. Twenty-six people were killed and over 30 injured when a speeding State Transport bus collided with an autorickshaw on January 25, causing both the vehicles to fall into a roadside well at Meshi Ghat near Deola tehsil.
