Maha: 6 dead, 18 injured as vehicle falls into gorge

At least six persons, includingfive women, were killed and 18 others injured when theirvehicle fell into a 400-feet deep gorge in Nandurbar districtof Maharashtra on Saturday, a police official said.

The accident took place around 10.30 am on the hillystretch of Khadki ghat, located approximately 10 kms fromToranmal hill station, he said.

Around 24 persons, most of them labourers, were goingto Danduka in Ahmedabad from Khadki and neighbouring villagesin Nandurbar in north Maharashtra in the ill-fated MahindraMax vehicle, he said.

''While passing through the ghat section (winding hillroute), the driver lost control of the vehicle, followingwhich it went backwards and fell into the gorge,'' NandurbarSuperintendent of Police Mahendra Pandit told PTI.

He said six people were killed, and 18 injured, ofwhich the condition of seven is serious.

Nine of the injured have been discharged after firstaid, the SP added.

The injured are being treated in the civil hospital inNandurbar and Toranmal rural hospital, police said.

The process of registering an FIR in the incident wasunderway in Mhasvad police station.