Fifteen persons were killed and 53 injured, when a tractor-trolley fell into a deep roadside ditch near the famous Ambaji temple in Banaskantha district of north Gujarat on Wednesday. Eleven women and a child are among the dead.
Police said the victims belonged to the Ajiju village in the neighbouring Patan district. They came in the tractor trolley for a darshan of goddess Ambaji and were returning home when the driver lost control on a steep slope.
Senior government officials, including District Collector J.B. Vora, rushed to the spot and arranged for shifting of the injured to the hospital in Ambaji.
Later 40 of the wounded passengers were shifted to the government civil hospital in the district headquarters of Palanpur. The condition of at least 15 injured were stated to be critical.
Overloaded
The police said the tractor-trolley, carrying nearly 70 persons, was overloaded and this could have caused the accident. Chief Minister Narendra Modi has declared an ex gratia of Rs. 1 lakh each to the next of kin of the deceased.