4 musicians killed, 7 injured in head-on collision on Madhya Pradesh highway

A group of 20 musicians — all residents of Gujarat — were returning after performing at a “Shiv Katha” event at the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi

Bhopal: Four musicians from Gujarat were killed and seven others injured on Saturday morning after a traveller bus carrying the musicians collided head-on with a truck on National Highway-27 near Surwaya in Madhya Pradesh, police said.

The bus driver might have dozed off while crossing Surwaya, lost control of the vehicle, police said. (Representative photo)

A group of 20 musicians — all residents of Mehsana and Surendranagar districts of Gujarat — were returning after performing at a “Shiv Katha” event at the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi, Superintendent of Police (SP) of Shivpuri Aman Singh Rathore said.

They were reportedly part of a team accompanying Gujarat’s religious storyteller Lankesh Babu, who had returned to Gujarat by flight on Friday.

“The bus driver might have dozed off while crossing Surwaya, lost control of the vehicle, which flipped over the divider and collided with a truck in the opposite lane,” an officer said.

According to the injured, who were taken to a district hospital for treatment, the Shiv Katha event in Varanasi was organised by a resident of Baroda. The team had departed from Gujarat’s Kadhi on August 8 and reached Varanasi on the morning of August 10.

Police have launched an investigation into the incident. “The bodies of the deceased were sent for postmortem. The group was part of the musical team accompanying Gujarat’s religious storyteller Lankesh Babu, who had returned to Gujarat by flight on Friday,” the officer added.