At least 26 dead, dozens injured in Gujarat's Bhavnagar as truck carrying wedding party members falls into drain

A truck carrying members of a wedding party crashed in Gujarat's Bhavnagar district and fell into a drain on Tuesday morning. At least 26 persons have died and dozens more are feared injured in the accident.

A report on India Today said the accident took place in Palitana near Bhavnagar on the Rajkot highway on Tuesday morning. It said that the injured were rushed to the nearby Bharat Nagar Senior and Tindour Government Hospital for treatment.

The truck fell into a drain in Bhavnagar on Tuesday morning. Image courtesy: Twitter/@ANI

Relief and rescue operations are currently underway. Senior police officers of the region have rushed to the accident spot, the report added.

However, a report in the AFP news agency put the death toll at 28, and said most of the deceased were women and children.

Initial investigations indicated the driver lost control causing the truck to swerve off the bridge and fall eight metres onto a dry riverbed in Gujarat state, police said.

"Around 60 persons were travelling in the truck and most victims are women and children," Gujarat police inspector KJ Kadapda told AFP. Officials indicated the toll could rise as many of the passengers, who were on their way to a wedding, remained trapped under the truck which overturned. Other injured victims have been rushed to hospital.

The accident happened in Bhavnagar district, about 200 kilometres from the state capital Ahmedabad.

The district collector, Harshadkumar Patel, told AFP that "at least 25 persons have lost their lives in the accident".

With inputs from AFP