7 minor members of family killed as car falls into ditch in Gujarat

Seven members of a family, all minors, were killed when their car fell into a ditch in Gujarat's Panchmahal district, police said today.

The incident happened around midnight yesterday when one of the rear wheels of the car, carrying 10 people, came off at a sharp turn on the Halol-Bodeli road, near Bhat village in Jambughoda tehsil, located around 180 km from here.

As a result, the driver lost control of the vehicle, which plunged into a roadside ditch filled with water, an official at the Jambughoda police station said.

While the locals managed to rescue three people, seven others could not be saved, he added.

All the deceased belonged to the same family in Bodeli town. They were returning after meeting a relative in Halol, the police official said.

"The three people rescued by the locals were taken to a hospital in Jambughoda. The bodies were also sent to the same hospital for post-mortem," he added.

The deceased were identified as Mohammad Bilal (17), Mohammad Rouf (14), Mohammad Sajid (13), Gul Afroz (13), Asina Banu (11), Mohammad Tahir (11) and Mohammad Yusuf (7), the official said.

A case was registered in connection with the incident, he added.