Two Navaratri pilgrims were killed and over 20 injured when a tractor carrying them was hit by a speeding truck on an overbridge on GT Road (NH-19) near Tekari village under Chenari police station limits of Rohtas district in the wee hours of Thursday.
Around 25 people, 14 of them women, were going to the Mahua Devi Dham in adjacent Aurangabad district when the truck rammed into the tractor from behind, one of the injured, Savita Devi, said.
The collision was so severe that the tractor overturned and was dragged for several metres before both vehicles fell into the roadside ditch.
The victims, identified as Bandhan Kumhar and Anil Bari, died on the spot. Police and an NHAI rescue team admitted the injured pilgrims with multiple cuts and fractures to a local hospital in Sasaram. All the patients are out of danger, civil surgeon Dr KN Tiwary said.
Both the vehicles have been impounded and the police have launched an investigation after registering a case, Chenari station house officer Ranjan Kumar said.
This is the third such incident in a month in the district. On April 5, a pilgrim from Uttar Pradesh was killed and over 12 were injured in two accidents, while on March 13, four pilgrims were killed and over 26 sustained injuries when an overloaded pick-up van fell into a ditch in Kaimur.
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