3 children run over by tractor during Ganesh procession after novice driver takes wheel in Maharashtra’s Dhule

The tractor's regular driver had got down for some work and another member of the Ganesh mandal, which had organised the procession, climbed into the driver’s seat.

The deceased were identified as Pari Shantaram Bagul, 13; Shera Bapu Sonawane, 6; and Lahu Pawra, 3. One of them was the niece of the man who started the vehicle, the police said. (Representational)

Three children were killed and six people were injured after a tractor carrying a Ganesh idol knocked them down in Maharashtra’s Dhule district on Tuesday.

The accident took place around 12.30 pm at the Chitod village in the Dhule tehsil where the Ganesh immersion procession was about to start. An officer said that the tractor’s regular driver had got down for some work and another member of the Ganesh mandal, which had organised the procession, climbed into the driver’s seat and started the vehicle.

The police said he lost control, causing the tractor to move in the reverse direction at high speed and plow into the crowd behind.

The deceased were identified as Pari Shantaram Bagul, 13; Shera Bapu Sonawane, 6; and Lahu Pawra, 3. One of them was the niece of the man who started the vehicle, the police said.

The injured have been identified as Gayatri Pawar, 25; Vidya Jadhav, 27; Ajay Somvanshi, 23; Ujjwala Malche, 23; Lalita More, 16; and Vidya Sonawane, 17. They were rushed to the Hire Medical College.

The man in the driver’s seat fled from the spot, but the police soon detained him and the regular driver. According to the police, a case was being registered under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

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