13 killed, 30 injured as trailer rams tempo carrying wedding guests in Palghar

Thirteen people, including four women, were killed and over 30 others were injured after a container trailer rammed a tempo truck carrying a wedding party on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway near Dhanivari in Palghar district’s Dahanu taluka on Monday evening (Source: Photo by Amit Chakravarty)

According to a statement issued by the Palghar district administration, the Eicher tempo on its way to Khadkipada, carrying around 40 passengers, was headed for an engagement ceremony in Dhanivari when it collided with the trailer truck coming from Mumbai side near Dhaniwari village around 4 pm (Source: Photo by Amit Chakravarty)

Upon reaching Dhaniwari village, a trailer (NL 01 AC 9118) coming from the opposite direction lost control, and its container box collided heavily with the left side of the tempo. A motorcycle (MH 04 EM 8425) was also caught in the pile-up, it said (Source: Photo by Amit Chakravarty)

In the impact, the front section of the container broke apart and fell onto the truck, trapping several passengers underneath. Both riders of the motorcycle were also killed (Source: Photo by Amit Chakravarty)

The statement identified the 13 deceased persons as Suresh Ratna Lakhat, Pandu Ganpat Lakhat, Kalu Govind Lakhat, Sunil Arjun Dandekar, Chima Govind Kurhada, Namita Vitthal Dandekar, Sarika Santosh Lakhat, Ayush Sitaram Lakhat, Sagar Namdev Shende, Vandana Shivram Valvi, Saloni Shivram Valvi, Ajay Ahadi and Riyanshi Santosh Lakhat (Source: Photo by Amit Chakravarty)

Local residents and rescue teams scrambled to pull survivors out from beneath the mangled truck and fallen container (Source: Photo by Amit Chakravarty)

Fourteen persons who were critically injured were shifted to Vedantaa Hospital in Dahanu, while the other injured were admitted to Kasa Sub-District Hospital, where a huge crowd gathered (Source: Photo by Amit Chakravarty)

District officials and police personnel were present at the site to coordinate rescue operations and manage traffic on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway (Source: Photo by Amit Chakravarty)

The administration added that the exact cause of the accident is still under investigation (Source: Photo by Amit Chakravarty)

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the kin of the deceased (Source: Photo by Amit Chakravarty)