Officials said the pickup vehicle was completely mangled in the impact. Gondia (Maharashtra): At least six people were killed and seven others injured after a speeding truck collided head-on with a pickup vehicle in Maharashtra’s Gondia district, officials said on Tuesday. The accident occurred late Monday night in the Nagra area along the Gondia-Balaghat route. The impact of the collision was severe, leaving the pickup vehicle badly mangled. Six passengers travelling in the vehicle died at the spot, while seven others suffered serious injuries. The deceased have been identified as Aarush Matre, Kiran Santosh Vaidya, Santosh Matre, Sushila Matre, Rupsen Satyakar and Jyoti Satyakar. The injured were identified as Bhumeshwar Matre, Sangeeta Matre, Rajendra Panchale, Lakshmi Panchale, Santosh Vaidya, Rakesh Bahe and pickup driver Sandeep Bahe. All the victims were labourers from Madhya Pradesh’s Balaghat district and were travelling to Hyderabad in search of work when the accident took place.

After receiving information about the crash, local residents and rural police reached the spot and launched rescue efforts. Several injured passengers were trapped inside the damaged vehicle and had to be pulled out. They were subsequently taken to a government hospital in Gondia for treatment. Officials said the condition of some of the injured remains critical. Police have registered a case against the truck driver and launched an investigation to determine the circumstances that led to the fatal collision. In a separate road accident reported in July, three people, including two women, were killed while two others suffered critical injuries after a car crashed into a stationary dumper on the Mumbai-Goa Highway in Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri district. According to officials, the victims were members of a Mumbai family from Agripada who had travelled to Goa. The accident occurred as they were returning to Mumbai when their car collided with the stationary dumper near Lanja Rest House on the highway. The collision was reportedly so severe that the car was completely mangled. Local residents and motorists passing through the area rushed to the spot and helped rescue those trapped inside the wreckage. Police were alerted soon after the accident, following which a team reached the location and began rescue and relief operations.