At least 16 people, including eight members of a family, were today killed in two separate road accidents in Jabalpur and Mandsaur districts of Madhya Pradesh, police said.

In Jabalpur, nine people waiting for a bus were crushed to death when a cement bags-laden truck overturned and fell on them near Mankhedi village this afternoon, a police official said, adding that eight of them belonged to the same family.

In Mandsaur, seven people were killed and 26 others injured when a passenger bus hit two motorcycles and fell in a dry culvert near Dhamania village, about 27 km from Mandsaur district headquarters, in the morning hours, officials said.

Among the seven deceased, four were passengers of the bus while three others were riding the two motorcycles, District Collector OP Shrivastava said.
Jabalpur Superintendent of Police Kumar Saurabh said the truck driver lost control over the vehicle at Mankhedi intersection, following which it overturned and crushed the people waiting by the road.

The deceased are identified as: Tulsi Chadhar (38), his wife Sunita Chadhar (35), Durgesh Chadhar (16), Anjali Chadhar (15), Sunita Chadhar (30), Nisha Chadhar (12), Nitesh Chadhar (10), and Durga (7). One unidentified woman also died in the accident, police said.

In the second accident, the bus hit two motorcycles and fell in a dry culvert near Dhamania village. Collector Shrivastava said the bus was headed towards Bhanpura when the accident occurred.

He said the driver of the bus could have lost control of the vehicle in a bid to save two motorcycles coming from the opposite direction. However, the bus hit the motorcycles before landing in the dry culvert, he said.

Shrivastava said the injured were admitted in two hospitals at Shamgarh and Mandsaur. The kin of each of the deceased were immediately provided a financial assistance of Rs 15,000, the collector said.

District Superintendent of Police Manoj Kumar Singh said it was possible that two motorcycles suddenly came in front of the bus and the driver, while trying to save them, lost control of the vehicle.

While three out of the four persons riding on the two motorcycles died, another person sustained injuries, he said. Six of the seven deceased are identified as Sushil Jain (50), Vishu Khatik (4), Rahul Joshi (24), Bindu Joshi (22), Ishwar Singh (20), and Nandkishor (48).