New Delhi — A truck carrying villagers to a campaign appearance by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi overturned Sunday in eastern India, killing 14 people and injuring at least 20, authorities said.
The truck flipped over while trying to overtake a loaded tractor near Motihari, about 550 miles east of here in Bihar state, police said.
The villagers were on their way to nearby Mahyawa town for an appearance by Gandhi, who has been campaigning around the country for candidates of his Congress Party in next month’s state assembly elections.
In another accident, four people were killed and two seriously injured when a passenger train hit a tractor trolley at an unmanned railway crossing near Chandigarh, about 155 miles north of New Delhi.
The engine of the train derailed and dragged the cart about 300 yards, police said.
New Delhi — A tractor-trailer plunged into a canal in southern India killing 21 of its 45 passengers, the Press Trust of India reported Sunday.
The accident occurred Saturday when the rig careened into the main canal of the Tungabhadra River near Richer in Karnataka state, 870 miles south of New Delhi.
Twenty-four people aboard the vehicle managed to swim ashore, the domestic news agency reported.
First reports said the driver lost control of the tractor while crossing a bridge over the canal at a
High rate of speed, Press Trust said.
Article extracted from this publication >> February 22, 1985
