Seven persons were mowed down by a truck in the afternoon during a procession near Banjari Mata temple under laknadon police station area of Seoni district on Monday; devotees were returning after immersing jawara on the occasion of Durga Navami.
Police said that the incident took place near the place where immersion is done and during the procession a truck went out of control of mowed down seven people.
SP Seoni AK Pandey said that the driver lost control over the truck and hit the devotees who left the temple. The devotees were near the road when the truck hit them in which seven deaths have been reported and two are critically injured and have been referred to Jabalpur.
After the information of the accident was received by police rescue teams were rushed to the spot and started rescue and investigation, he added. Police said that the driver managed to escape and search for the errant driver has been started.
Police said that eight injured have been referred to Jabalpur Medical College hospital while four are undergoing treatment at hospital in lakhnadon.
The injured were rushed to a nearby hospital where seven of the injured were declared dead while more than 12 people sustained injuries and are undergoing treatment.
The deceased were identified as Rajendra Kumar (10) of Parasia, Manohar Chourasia (7) of Adegoan, Salak Prasad (55) of Adegoan, Ankit Nagesh (8) of Parasia, Ganga Bai Patel (58), Saroj (10) of Pathrai and Narmada Yadav (45) of lakhnadon.