Three children killed, 6 people injured after being run over by tractor trolly carrying Ganesh idol in Maharashtra's Dhule

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Three children were killed and six people were injured after being run over by a tractor trolly carrying a Ganesh idol in Maharashtra's Dhule district on Tuesday, the police said, reported the PTI.

The incident took place around 12.30 pm at Chitod village in Dhule tehsil in Maharashtra.

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As the Lord Ganesh immersion procession was about to start, the driver of the tractor got down for some reason, said a police official, adding further that an another man, a member of the Ganesh mandal which had organised the procession, climbed into the driver's seat and started the vehicle but lost control of the wheels, he said, according to the PTI.

The tractor reversed and ploughed into the crowd behind, the official said.

Three children who were killed in the incident were identified as Pari Shantaram Bagul (13 years), Shera Bapu Sonawane (6 years) and Lahu Pawra (3 years), all three were crushed to death. One of the deceased was the niece of the person who started the vehicle, an official said, as per the PTI.

Those who were seriously injured in the incident were identified as Gayatri Pawar (25), Vidya Jadhav (27), Ajay Somvanshi (23), Ujjwala Malche (23), Lalita More (16) and Vidya Sonawane (17). They were rushed to the Hire Medical College for a medical treatment, a police official said, the news agency reported on Tuesday.

The man in the driver's seat fled from the spot but he, along with the actual driver, was soon detained by the police, the official said.

A case was being registered under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, said the police official.

Meanwhile, More than 7,500 idols of Lord Ganesh and Goddess Gauri were immersed in Mumbai as of Tuesday evening as devotees in the city and the rest of Maharashtra bid farewell to their beloved elephant-headed deity.

No untoward incident was reported anywhere during the immersion in Mumbai, said officials of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

More than 24,000 Mumbai Police personnel have been deployed on the streets for security and crowd management.

The BMC has deployed more than 12,000 employees and set up 71 control rooms to manage the processions. It has also posted 761 lifeguards and deployed 48 speed boats at the beaches as a safety measure.

(with PTI inputs)