At least 13 people, including six women, were killed and 11 others injured when a van carrying Kawad pilgrims collided with a speeding truck on Friday morning near Jamshedpur steel city in Jharkhand.
Eleven people died on the spot, while two succumbed to their injuries on way to hospital, PTI reports.
The injured are undergoing treatment at Jamshedpur's MGM Medical College and Hospital, according to a Dainik Jagran report.
The victims, devotees of Lord Shiva, were travelling from Puri in Odisha to their homes in Siwan, Bihar. All the victims were residents of Siwan's Andra Bazar area.
The accident took place on NH-33 in Seraikela Kharsawan district around 4.30 am. The victims had just left for their destination after having tea at a hotel on the highway when a speeding truck coming from Ranchi rammed into it.
In yet another accident on Wednesday, three Kawad pilgrims were killed and 40 injured when a bus they were travelling in overturned in Koderma district of Jharkhand.
A bus with Kawad pilgrims overturned in Koderma district of Jharkhand. 3 died on the spot, 40 people reportedly injured (Earlier today)
— ANI (@ANI_news) August 12, 2015
Every year in the month of sawan (according to Hindu calendar) devotees of Lord Shiva, also called Kanwadias, embark on a Kawad Yatra to visit places like Haridwar, Gaumukh and Gangotri, and collect holy water from the Ganges.
They then fill the holy water in two pots that is hanged on either end of a pole or Kawad, which they carry on their shoulders, and return to their towns and villages where they offer the holy water to Lord Shiva at temples on amavasya (new moon night) or on Shivratri.
