A tragic road accident in eastern India has claimed the lives of 18 Hindu pilgrims. The crash occurred in Jharkhand’s Deoghar district on Monday when a bus carrying the devotees collided with a truck transporting cooking gas cylinders.
The victims were part of a religious group traveling to a Hindu shrine during the holy month of Shravan. They had collected sacred water from the Ganges to offer to Lord Shiva, an annual ritual observed by thousands across India.
According to early reports, the bus driver may have fallen asleep at the wheel, leading to the fatal collision. The impact left the bus severely damaged and partially burned. Several passengers sustained serious injuries and were taken to nearby hospitals. Many remain in critical condition.
Visuals from the accident site showed a mangled wreckage surrounded by emergency responders. Local lawmaker Nishikant Dubey confirmed the death toll on social media, stating that 18 devotees had lost their lives.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief over the incident. In a statement posted online, he conveyed his “deepest condolences to the families of the devotees who lost their lives.”
This latest tragedy adds to India’s troubling record of fatal road crashes. In 2023 alone, over 172,000 people died in such accidents, as reported by the country’s transport ministry. Experts say that over-speeding, fatigue, and poor road conditions are major contributing factors. National and state highways, though they cover a small part of the road network, see a large share of these fatalities.
Road safety continues to be a pressing issue in India. Despite government efforts to improve infrastructure and enforce traffic laws, deadly accidents remain alarmingly frequent. Last year, another bus accident in Uttarakhand claimed 36 lives after plunging into a ravine.
The current case, where India road crash kills 18 Hindu pilgrims, has once again brought national attention to the urgent need for better road safety measures.
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