13 labourers killed, two injured as tipper truck overturns in Maha

Mumbai: Thirteen labourers were killed and two others injured after a tipper truck carrying them along with steel overturned due to a pothole in Buldhana district of Maharashtra on Friday, police said.

The incident occurred near Dusarbid village at Tadegaon Phata on Sindkhedraja-Mehkar Road around 12 pm when the labourers were being taken to work of the Nagpur-Mumbai Samruddhi Expressway project, an official said.

A total of 16 labourers, including a girl, were travelling in the vehicle that was also transporting steel for the highway project, he said.

"The tipper was speeding and it overturned due to a large pothole on the road. Thirteen labourers were killed and two others were injured," Buldhana Superintendent of Police Arvind Chavria said.

After getting information about it, the personnel of the Kingaon Raja police station rushed to the spot and launched a rescue operation and the minor girl was rescued, he said. While some of the injured were taken to a state-run hospital in neighbouring Jalna district, others were admitted to Sindkhedraja hospital, the official said.

According to him, most of the labourers were from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

Process to register an offence against the driver of the vehicle was on, he said.