18 workers dead, 15 injured as truck overturns on Mumbai-B'luru highway

Mumbai: At least 18 labourers were killed and 15 others injured when a speeding truck overturned in western Maharashtra's Satara district in the early hours of Tuesday, the police said.

The truck, carrying construction labourers from Bijapur district in Karnataka, was going towards Pune when it met with the accident around 4.30 am on the Mumbai-Bengaluru highway passing through the district, around 250 km from Mumbai, Satara's Superintendent of Police Sandeep Patil said.

The driver apparently lost control over the wheels at an accident-prone stop near Khambatki ghat.

As a result, the vehicle rammed into a barricade and then overturned, he said.

On being informed, the Khandala police rushed to the spot and took all the victims to a nearby hospital, he said.

The police were trying to ascertain the exact reason of the accident, the official said, adding that they suspect the accident occurred due to the driver's lack of concentration as he had been constantly driving and was deprived of sleep.

The bodies were sent for postmortem and the process to identify the deceased was on, the police added.