4 killed in Maharashtra road accident, angry crowd burns vehicles

Gadchiroli (Maharashtra), Jan 16 (IANS) At least four persons, including school students, were killed and 10 others seriously injured on Wednesday when a state transport bus and a truck collided near Gurupalli village in Etappally region of the district, police officials said.

An enraged mob and grieving relatives of the victims vent their anger on other vehicles, mostly belonging to a local mining company and torched around 10 trucks, said Gadchiroli Police Superintendent Shailesh Balakawade.

We rushed additional police personnel to the region to pacify the crowds and the situation is now fully under control, he told IANS.

The incident happened around 8 a.m. when the passenger state transport bus departed from the Aheri depot, bound for Alapalli, carrying over 50 passengers including many school students.

As it sped towards a turn near Gurupalli, a mining company's truck suddenly came from the opposite direction and rammed virtually headlong into the bus.

The impact was so powerful that the entire front portions and the driver cabins of both the truck and the bus were completely crushed.

As locals reached the scene of the tragedy, they removed at least four bodies, including school students, a forest department employee and a woman official working in Aheri court, and another seven seriously injured passengers.

They were soon joined by other people from nearby villages who staged an impromptu road block and some irate people set afire at least 10 trucks of a private transporter working on contract for a local mining company.

The seriously injured were rushed to nearby hospitals for treatment and another 15 with minor injuries were treated and allowed to go.

Police are maintaining security measures on all the roads in the vicinity of the accident - around 300 km from the second capital of Nagpur - as a precautionary measure.