Mumbai: At least 15 people were killed when a speeding state transport (ST) bus collided with an auto -rickshaw and both the vehicles fell into a roadside well in Maharashtra's Nashik district on Tuesday, police said.
More than 18 people also suffered injuries in the accident which took place in the evening at Meshi Phata on the Malegaon-Deola Road in the North Maharashtra district, around 200km from here, an official said.
The speeding ST bus, packed with passengers, crashed into the auto-rickshaw, he said, adding the injured were mostly bus passengers.
The impact of the collision was so severe that the bus dragged the auto-rickshaw along with it and both the vehicles fell into a roadside well, the official said.
"As of now we have pulled out 15 bodies from the well and injured have been rushed to state-run hospitals in Malegaon and Deola," Sadashiv Waghmare, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Nashik Rural, said.
The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation-run (MSRTC) bus was on its way to Kalwan in Nashik from the adjoining Dhule district, while the auto-rickshaw was coming from opposite direction, he said.
A rescue operation was on at the crash site, he added.