Eight people were killed after a speeding pickup vehicle collided with an auto-rickshaw in Maharashtra's Pune district, police said on Monday.
The accident took place at around 11.30 pm on Sunday under Otur police station limits on Kalyan-Ahmednagar Road, located about 150 km from here, they said.
The pick-up vehicle, which was going towards Kalyan (in Thane district) from Ahmednagar, collided with the auto-rickshaw coming from the opposite direction near a petrol pump at Pimpalgaon Joga, an official said.
Seven persons from the auto-rickshaw and the pickup vehicle's driver were killed, he said.
Three killed in accident on Dec 1
On December 1, at least three persons were killed and five others were injured, when their SUV hit a moving truck on the Pune-Nashik Highway which was shrouded by a thick fog.
According to an official of Manchar Police Station, the accident occurred around 5.45 am when the SUV, a Cruiser jeep, was speeding from Nashik towards Pune's Bhosari. Just before dawn, the SUV apparently failed to notice the truck ahead while negotiating the road covered under thick early winter fog. The SUV rammed into the truck with full force, it was thrown beside the road and its front half got badly crushed by the impact that killed three of the eight occupants.
As per preliminary estimates, the three deceased victims were caught in the SUV's crumpled metal sheets and reportedly died on the spot. The tentative cause of the crash is attributed to the thick smog in the area and the SUV driver may have failed to notice the truck moving ahead, leading to the collision, but further investigation is underway.
