The SUV was full of men from Korba, in Chhattisgarh, asleep on the road to the Maha Kumbh. Police say the driver nodded off too. Near midnight on Friday, on the Prayagraj-Mirzapur highway, the vehicle crossed into a private bus coming the other way. Ten people in the SUV died.
The bus was also carrying pilgrims, from Rajgarh in Madhya Pradesh. Nineteen people were injured, according to India Today and the Independent. The Times of India put the figure at more than 12.
Vivek Yadav, a police officer who spoke to the Times of India, said the SUV was speeding when it hit the bus head-on near Manu Ka Purva, under Meja police station. The impact left the bodies trapped inside the SUV. Police brought in a crane and a gas cutter to get them out.
Initial findings point to the driver. He lost control after feeling sleepy, police said, and everyone else in the vehicle was asleep.
The dead were identified as Somnath, 28; Ishwari Prasad, 56; Bhagirathi Jaiswal, 43; Santosh Soni, 55; Saurabh Soni; Ajay Banjare; Ganga Das Verma, 50; Shiva Rajput, 60; Deepak Verma; and Raju Sahu. All were from Chhattisgarh. The bodies went to Swaroop Rani Nehru Hospital for post-mortem examinations.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath told officials to reach the site, speed up relief work and make sure the injured got proper treatment. President Droupadi Murmu wrote on X that the news of the deaths was “extremely sad.”
A run of road accidents
This was not the only crash involving pilgrims that week. On Tuesday, seven people from Andhra Pradesh died when their tempo traveller hit a truck in Jabalpur district, Madhya Pradesh, as they returned from the festival. A couple from Agra died on Monday in a collision with a truck, and a man from Rourkela in Odisha was killed that day when his car hit a bus in Sonbhadra.
The Maha Kumbh began on January 13 and runs to February 26. The Uttar Pradesh government said more than 92 lakh devotees bathed on Friday alone, taking the total past 50 crore.
Sources
- 10 Kumbh pilgrims killed in SUVâbus collision, 12 hurt | Prayagraj News – The Times of India
- Ten Hindu pilgrims killed in highway crash on way to Maha Kumbh festival
- 10 Kumbh devotees killed in car-bus collision on highway in Prayagraj
Sources
- 10 Kumbh pilgrims killed in SUV–bus collision… – The Times of India
- Ten Hindu pilgrims killed in highway crash on way to Maha Kumbh…
