MADHYA PRADESH: Five persons, including three girls and two women, were killed and 20 injured after a tractor-trolley carrying devotees to a temple overturned in Madhya Pradesh's Datia district in the early hours of Friday, police said.
The victims were on their way to the Ratangarh Mata shrine when the accident took place near Maithana Pali around 4.30 am, a police official said.
The vehicle veered off the road, overturned and plunged 15 feet into a culvert.
Three girls and two women lost their lives in the accident, the official said.
Prima facie, it appears that the tractor-trolley driver dozed off which resulted in the accident, Bhander Sub Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP) Karnik Shrivastava said.
The deceased have been identified as Sonam (11), Kranti (17), Seema (30), Kamni (19) and Roshni (17), the official said. In-charge collector Kamlesh Bhargava and Superintendent of Police (SP) Virendra Mishra also visited the accident spot.
Among the injured, 17 are admitted to the Datia district hospital, while two have been referred to Gwalior and one to Jhansi, the SDOP said.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav expressed grief over the death of five persons in the road accident in Datia, an official said.