Seven people, including five students, were killed in a deadly collision between two cars on the Junagadh-Veraval highway near Maliya Hatina village in Gujarat on Monday morning. The collision led to a larger catastrophe as one of the vehicle's CNG cylinders exploded, putting the car on fire which then spread to the nearby huts.
According to the police, both cars were travelling at full speed when the incident took place.
CCTV footage of the incident shows a car crossing a road cut near a divider and driving on the opposite side on the highway. It then crashed into another car and both the vehicles overturned. The vehicle with a CNG cylinder exploded while the passengers were sitting inside. The vehicle's blaze quickly spread to the nearby shacks.
A police convoy, along with fire department officials and ambulances immediately rushed to the spot as the locals alerted them, officials said.
The fire was brought under control within a few minutes, officials added.
According to an eyewitness, the incident took place around 8 am.
"I ran to the incident spot as soon as I heard the horrific loud noise. The accident happened around 8 am...I was in a nearby hotel when I heard the explosion," Dilip Singh Sisodia said.
Officials said that there were four people in one car and five people in another vehicle. All those inside the burning car could not be saved.
The victims have been identified as Veenu Devshi Wala, Nikul Vikram Kuwadia, Om Rajnikant Mugra, Raju Kanji Gone, Dharam Vijay Gore, Axar Dave, and Raju Kanji Bhutan. While two others have been critically injured in the incident.
Out of the seven victims, five were students who were on their way for an exam, the police said.
The victims' bodies have been sent for post-mortem and further investigation is underway, police added.
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