NEW DELHI, June 21 (Xinhua) -- At least 15 people, including five women, have been killed after a tractor-trolley collided head-on with an overloaded jeep in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh early Thursday morning, police said.
The accident occurred at Ganjrampur village in Morena, 450 km from state capital Bhopal.
"Some 20 members of a family were going to attend the last rites their relatives in Morena's Ghurghan village from Gwalior city held when the sand-laden tractor-trolley rammed into their jeep from opposite direction at 5:30 a.m. (local time)," local police chief Amit Sanghi told media.
The jeep was almost crushed. "While 12 people died on the spot, three others succumbed to their injuries at a government hospital, where five other injured members of the family are being treated," he said.
The victims were all occupants of the jeep. "The death toll may go up later in the day as the condition of the three injured are said to be serious. All of them sustained head injuries and are in the intensive care unit of the hospital," said another police official.
Local TV channels showed footage of the mangled jeep flipped upside down on the road and reported that police faced a harrowing time pulling out the bodies from the ill-fated vehicle.
Some eye-witnesses who were out on the fields to answer the call of nature in the early hours told cops that the fatal collision took place as soon as the jeep took a turn in the village and its driver failed to apply brakes upon coming across the tractor-trolley suddenly.
Madhya Pradesh Health Minister Rustam Singh met the injured in the hospital.
According to police, the tractor-trolley was carrying illegally mined sand in the morning to avoid cops who usually start patrolling the roads after 8 a.m. (local time). The district administration had only recently banned sand mining in the area.
"A massive manhunt has been launched to nab the driver of the tractor-trolley who fled the spot immediately after the accident, leaving the vehicle behind. He has been booked for rash and negligent driving," the official said.
"We are also investigating claims that the insurance of the jeep expired a few months back and it was ferrying passengers illegally," he added.
Road accidents occur in the country mostly due to poor driving or badly maintained roads and vehicles.