Jabalpur, Feb 11 (IANS): At least ten Kumbh pilgrims lost their lives in two tragic road accidents in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday morning, officials said.

Seven people were killed in a road accident in Madhya Pradesh’s Jabalpur district on Tuesday morning. The mishap took place on National Highway-30 near Sihora when a vehicle carrying Kumbh pilgrims collided head-on with a truck that was reportedly coming from the wrong side.

According to information, the victims were returning from Prayagraj when their passenger vehicle was struck by a truck coming from the opposite direction. The impact of the collision was severe, leaving the vehicle mangled and resulting in the immediate deaths of seven occupants.

Several others sustained injuries and were rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment. The accident also involved two other vehicles. A car trailing the passenger vehicle suffered minor damage, but its occupants escaped major injuries due to airbags. Another vehicle was also affected in the crash.

Local authorities, including police and emergency services, rushed to the scene to carry out relief and rescue operations. The deceased and injured are reported to be residents of Andhra Pradesh. A police officer confirmed that the registration number of the ill-fated vehicle belongs to Andhra Pradesh.

Officials are in the process of identifying the victims and informing their families.

In another incident, in Bihar’s Kaimur district, three pilgrims were killed and two others injured when their auto-rickshaw rammed into a truck parked on the roadside on Tuesday morning, police said.

Apart from this, the surge in Maha Kumbh pilgrims has led to massive traffic jams at various places across the country. On Monday, a sea of vehicles stretching up to 300 km in Madhya Pradesh turned the roads leading to Prayagraj into a massive parking lot, leaving lakhs of devotees stranded for hours.

A day earlier, heavy traffic heading toward Prayagraj had already led to police stopping hundreds of vehicles in different areas of Madhya Pradesh to prevent overcrowding. The situation prompted the state police to halt traffic across multiple districts, leaving travellers stuck for long hours on highways.

Besides traffic woes, railway stations are also witnessing an overwhelming rush of devotees heading to Prayagraj, with passengers struggling to board and deboard trains amid the crowd.