At least 20 pilgrims were killed and 65 injured when a truck carrying them from a Hindu shrine overturned on a road in India's northern state of Punjab on Tuesday, a news report said, according to dpa.
The accident occurred near the Anandpur Sahib town early Tuesday when the truck was returning from the Hindu shrine of Naina Devi in neighbouring Himachal Pradesh state, the IANS news agency reported.
The injured were moved to a government hospital in Anandpur, located 95 kilometres north-west of state capital Chandigarh. The report said six of them in a serious condition were rushed to a top state-run hospital in Chandigarh.
The truck, full with pilgrims, including women and children, was returning after the group paid obeisance at the Naina Devi shrine Monday night during the nine-day Navratras festival dedicated to the goddess Durga. The pilgrims belonged to a village in the Ludhiana district of Punjab.
Many villagers across India travel to shrines and religious places in buses and trucks and overcrowding on the vehicles is common. India accounts for some 10 per cent of the 1.2 million fatal road accidents worldwide each year.