6 killed, 10 injured in car-bus crash; Gujarat CM announces compensation

Six persons, including a nine-year-old child, were killed and ten others injured when a tyre burst-hit car collided with a state transport bus after jumping the divider on a national highway near Gondal town in Gujarat's Rajkot district on Tuesday evening, police said. The Gujarat government announced a compensation of Rs 4 lakh each to the kin of those who died in the accident. Three women, two men and a nine-year-old child who were in the car died in the crash, while another child sustained serious injuries and was under treatment, the police said. While five car occupants died on the spot, the nine-year-old child succumbed to injuries while undergoing treatment at a hospital, an official of the Gondal rural police station said. As many as nine passengers of the state transport bus also received injuries in the collision and were taken to a Gondal hospital for treatment, the official said. Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel expressed condolences to the bereaved families and announced an assistance of Rs 4 lakh to the kin of each of the deceased, said the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) in Gandhinagar. The car, which was going towards Gondal, lost balance after one of its tyres burst near Biliyala village in Gondal taluka of Rajkot district, the police official said. It jumped the divider and went on the wrong side of the national highway where it collided with the state transport bus, he said. The accident occurred around 4 pm and led to a traffic jam on the national highway which was later cleared by the local police.