Nine people were killed and 42 others injured after a truck rammed into a tractor-trolley carrying pilgrims in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr district in the early hours of Monday, police said.

Two of the deceased were minors, while 12 of those injured and hospitalised are below the age of 18. The accident took place around 2.10 am on the Bulandshahr-Aligarh border near the Arnia bypass, when the canter truck hit the tractor-trolley from behind, causing it to overturn, SSP (Rural) Dinesh Kumar Singh said.

“The tractor-trolley was carrying 61 people, who were travelling from the Rafatpur village in the Kasganj district to Jaharpeer in Rajasthan for a pilgrimage,” he said. The SSP said the victims were rushed to hospitals. “Eight people died, while 43 of them are undergoing treatment. Three of the injured are on ventilator support,” Singh added.