Three children were killed and six others injured when a tractor trolley carrying a Ganesh idol hit them in Maharashtra’s Dhule district on Tuesday, police said. The incident took place at Chitod village in Dhule tehsil around 12.30 pm.
A police official said that just as the Ganesh immersion procession was about to begin, the driver of the tractor got down for some reason. He said that a member of the Ganesh Mandal, which was organising the procession, got into the driver’s seat and started the tractor, but he could not control it.
The tractor turned backwards and rammed into the crowd standing behind it, the official said. Pari Shantaram Bagul (13 years), Shera Bapu Sonawane (6 years) and Lahu Pawara (3 years) died after being hit by the tractor, the police official said.
One of the deceased was the niece of the man who started the tractor. Gayatri Pawar (25), Vidya Jadhav (27), Ajay Somvanshi (23), Ujjwala Malche (23), Lalita More (16) and Vidya Sonawane (17) were seriously injured in the accident. They were rushed to Higher Medical College.
The person sitting on the tractor driver’s seat fled from the spot but he and the original driver of the tractor were soon taken into custody by the police. The police officer said that a case is being registered under the relevant sections of the Indian Justice Code in connection with the accident.
