Sixteen labourers were killed and five were injured when a truck ferrying them overturned in Maharashtra’s Jalgaon district on Monday, PTI reported.
The accident took place shortly after midnight. The injured labourers were taken to a hospital.
Six women and two children were among those who died, according to The Times of India. They all belonged to Raver taluka and had gone to Yawal to load the truck with fruit. While they were returning, the truck developed a snag and the driver lost control of it.
Yawal Police Station Sub-Inspector Sudhir Patil told the newspaper that the workers were sitting on heaps of papaya and suffocated when the truck overturned. He added that 10 labourers who died were from the same family.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief at the accident. “Heart-wrenching truck accident in Jalgaon, Maharashtra,” the Prime Minister’s Office tweeted. “Condolences to the bereaved families. May the injured recover at the earliest.”
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