Sri Lanka, July 29 -- At least 18 devotees have been killed and several others injured after a bus they were travelling in collided with a truck loaded with cooking gas cylinders in India's Jharkhand.

The incident occurred at around 4:30 a.m. during the ongoing Shravani Mela, a time when thousands of devotees travel to offer sacred water at the Baba Baidyanath Dham temple.

Several devotees were trapped inside the mangled remains of the vehicle, prompting an immediate response from the police, ambulance services, and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), who worked together to extract the injured and retrieve the bodies.

The injured were rushed to nearby primary health centres and Deoghar Sadar Hospital.

Authorities stated that ...