Eighteen people were killed on Sunday when a vehicle in a funeral procession rammed into a truck in West Bengal’s Nadia district.
A police officer told PTI that 12 people died on the spot when the van hit a truck carrying stones on the Hanskhali highway. Six others died on their way to the hospital or during treatment.
There were six women and a child among the casualties.
The mortuary van was on its way to a crematorium in Nabadwip town from North 24 Parganas district’s Bagda city, when the accident happened, according to ANI news agency.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that the state government will extend all assistance and support to the kin of the victims.
President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and Union Home Minister Amit Shah also expressed grief on the deaths.
