Eleven people—10 from a family and the driver—were killed in an accident at the Achhad village in the Palghar district of Maharashtra along the state border with Gujarat, nearly 120 km from Mumbai, in the early hours of Monday.
The victims hailed from the diamond city of Surat in Gujarat, and were travelling in a mini-bus when it collided head-on with a luxury bus.
According to police and district administration officials from Palghar, the accident took place at 3:45-4 am.
The mini-bus had left Mumbai around midnight for Surat when a luxury bus coming Gujarat rammed it on the busy Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway.
Initial reports suggested that the mini-bus driver might have been sleepy behind the wheel—resulting in the fatal accident. The luxury bus driver said the mini-bus first hit the divider and then came in front of his vehicle.
While 11 were confirmed killed, 15 others have been admitted to hospitals in Vapi, Silvassa and Palghar.
The victims of the mini-bus—a tempo traveller—include a five-year-old-girl, six men including the driver, and four women.
The families—Desais and Patels—had come to Mumbai for a weekend picnic and had visited Juhu beach, Haji Ali and other prominent places in Mumbai, and were returning to Surat.
Eyewitnesses said the accident was so severe that the mini-bus was completely mangled.
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