Out-of-control truck kills 15 on Indian roadside

AHMEDABAD, India: An out-of-control dumper truck crushed 15 people to death as they slept by the roadside early on Tuesday (Jan 19) in western India, authorities said.

A baby girl, eight women and six men were killed, said police official Usha Rada in the Suraj district of Gujarat state. Six others were injured.

The truck collided with a tractor carrying sugarcane just after midnight at a crossroads.

"The dumper driver ... lost control of the vehicle and went off the road, crushing labourers sleeping on the roadside," deputy police superintendent C M Jadeja said.

Police said that the drivers of both the dumper truck and the tractor have been arrested.

READ: Hunger, death, exploitation: The plight of the poor in India in the pandemic

High-speed vehicles jostling with motorbikes, pedestrians and cyclists combine with poor infrastructure and poorly maintained vehicles to make India's roads treacherous.

In 2019 more than 150,000 people died – 410 every day or 17 an hour -- in almost half a million accidents, according to the government.

On Monday, Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari inaugurated Road Safety Month, saying that the government aimed to halve road deaths and accidents by 2025.