Twelve persons were killed in two road accidents in Nashik and Nandurbar districts in north Maharashtra early on Thursday, police said.
While seven people lost their lives after an autorickshaw collided with an unidentified vehicle near Shemli village on Malegaon-Satana road in Nashik district, five others were killed in a truck-autorickshaw collision in Nandurbar district, police said.
In the Malegaon-Satana road accident, the deceased were six small-time vendors and driver of the autorickshaw.
According to a police officer, the vendors, who sold toys and other items, were going to a local fair in Satana town, around 75 kms from Nashik, when the incident took place around 6 am.
“An unidentified vehicle collided against the rickshaw, killing its seven occupants on the spot,” the officer said.
The six vendors had purchased their articles from Mumbai and were heading to Satana to sell those items.
“In Malegaon, they hired a rickshaw to reach Satana. The impact of the collision was so severe that the rickshaw was completely mangled,” he added.
The deceased were identified as auto driver Sanjay Padhade (40), Alim Sheikh Tayar (34), Ashok Devare (55), Rajeshkumar Gupta (28), Kailas Gupta (29), Mohammed Jullu (35) and Rahemtullabhai Ashami (68), police said.
The bodies have been sent to Satana rural hospital and a search has been launched to trace the driver of the unidentified vehicle involved in the accident, police said.
In the tribal-dominated Nandurbar district that falls under Nashik revenue division, five persons were killed and eleven others were injured, five of them seriously, after a truck collided against a rickshaw near Mhasawad village in Shahada tehsil early on Thursday morning, police said.
“The accident took place when the rickshaw was proceeding towards Bhongra village and the truck was on its way to Dhadgaon. The injured were admitted to Nandurbar Civil Hospital, police said.
