13 killed, 18 injured as speeding truck runs into marriage procession in Rajasthan; Ashok Gehlot extends condolences

Jaipur: A speeding truck ran into a marriage procession in Rajasthan’s Pratapgarh district killing 13 people, four of them children, and leaving 18 others injured, police said on Tuesday.

The accident happened near Ramdev temple on State Highway-113 on Monday night when the truck, going to Banswara from Nimbahera, rammed into the marriage party moving on the roadside, Choti Sadri DSP Vijaypal Singh Sandhu said.

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said he was deeply saddened to hear about the accident. “My heartfelt condolences to the grieved families. I pray for speedy recovery of injured people (sic),” he tweeted. He said the injured were rushed to a government hospital in Choti Sadri and later 15 of them, who were critically hurt, were referred to a facilities in Udaipur.

Nine of the deceased have been identified as: Daulatram (60), Bharat (30), Shubham (5), Chotu (5), Dilip (11), Arjun (15), Ishu (19), Ramesh (30) and Karan (28), police said. The DSP said the truck driver apparently could not see the procession. He said the bodies are kept in a mortuary for postmortem and an investigation is underway.