Oct. 22 (UPI) -- Fifteen people were killed and 40 others were injured when a bus collided with a truck in central India late Friday, authorities said.
The bus was carrying migrant workers who were going to celebrate Diwali, a Hindu religious festival, in the Rewa district in Madhya Pradesh, the Press Trust of India reported.
Navneet Bhasin, superintendent of police in Rewa, said that the bus was negotiating a mountain road when it rammed into the truck from behind.
"Fifteen people were killed and 40 others injured in the accident," he told the ANI news agency. "The victims were mostly laborers going home to Uttar Pradesh for Diwali. The bus also belonged to that state."
Officials said 12 of the victims were killed on the spot, two others died while on their way to the hospital and another died during treatment. The bodies of the bus driver and conductor had to be pulled out of the wreckage with the help of gas cutters due to the severity of the crash, they said.
Indian President Droupadi Murmu said in a statement she was "deeply saddened to hear the news of the death of many passengers due to the accident of a bus going to Gorakhpur from Hyderabad in Rewa, Madhya Pradesh.
"My deepest condolences to all the bereaved families. I wish the injured a speedy recovery."
