Dhule (Maharashtra), May 25 (IANS) Six people were killed, and several were injured in a horrific and bizarre multiple vehicle accident on the Mumbai-Agra Highway in Maharashtra’s Dhule, officials said on Monday.

The incident occurred at Laling Ghat in Dhule early on Monday. Around 26 people were injured in this tragic accident.

According to officials, first, a dumper truck collided with a standard truck. Following this initial crash, while toll employees and local residents were attempting to rescue the injured, a speeding passenger bus travelling from Madhya Pradesh lost control and slammed violently into the already-wrecked vehicles.

This second collision was so severe that it claimed the life of a toll employee who was assisting in the rescue efforts, the officials said.

“In this tragic incident, a total of six people, including the toll employee, lost their lives, while 26 others sustained injuries,” an official said.

Upon receiving the information, police and rescue teams rushed to the scene. All the injured individuals were rescued and immediately admitted to the District Hospital for treatment, officials said.

Traffic on the highway remained disrupted for some time due to the accident, they added.

The police are currently conducting an investigation into the matter.

Further details are awaited.

In a separate accident, eight people were killed after an SUV plunged into a deep gorge in Maharashtra’s Raigad district earlier in the day, officials said.

So far, rescue teams have recovered two bodies, and they have been sent for the post-mortem procedure. The search for the remaining bodies is ongoing. However, due to the depth of the gorge, the rescue teams are facing numerous obstacles in their search efforts.

Officials said that the search operations are currently underway, and further details are awaited.

–IANS

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