Bhopal, Aug 18 (IANS) Eight labourers were killed and 23 others injured after a speeding pickup van carrying them collided head-on with an incoming truck in Madhya Pradesh's Bhind district, police said on Tuesday.  The accident took place at around mid-night near Chhimka village under Gohad area on National Highway-719. The labourers were returning to their villages in Uttar Pradesh after completing paddy transplantation work in Gwalior region. According to police, 29 labourers were travelling in the pickup when the accident occurred. The injured were rescued with the help of local residents and shifted to nearby hospitals. Gohad Chauraha police station in-charge Ramnaresh Yadav said the pickup was travelling at an estimated speed of 80-90 kmph. “Some cows were sitting on the highway and the driver tried to avoid them after they suddenly came in front of the vehicle. The pickup swerved and collided head-on with the oncoming truck,” Yadav said. 

The collision was so severe that the pickup was badly mangled, trapping several labourers inside. Police personnel and local residents helped extricate the injured from the vehicle. Five bodies have been kept at Gohad and three at Gwalior, while the process of identifying the deceased was underway, police said. The labourers had come to the Gwalior region from different villages for paddy transplantation work. After completing the work, they were returning to their villages in Lakhimpur Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh. Yadav said the presence of cattle on the highway was emerging as a key factor in the accident, particularly as the pickup was travelling at high speed during the night. “The damaged vehicles were removed from the highway, and traffic movement was restored after some disruption,” Yadav added. Police have registered a case and started an investigation into the accident. Further details, including the identities of the deceased, are awaited. 

/IANS