PATAN: Three persons, among them an eight-year-old girl, were killed, while three others were injured when a car collided with a tanker on a highway in Patan district of Gujarat on Thursday, police said.
The accident occurred on Mehsana-Chanasma Highway near Lanva village in the morning, an official said.
While the police are yet to ascertain the exact cause of the accident, eye-witnesses have claimed that the car driver lost control of the vehicle in a bid to avoid hitting a scooter and collided with a tanker coming from the opposite direction, sub-inspector R D Makwana of Chanasma police station said.
Following the accident, the tanker driver abandoned his vehicle and fled the scene, the official said, adding that no formal complaint has been lodged yet.
"The incident took place when a few members of a family and a relative, who had come to their village from Surat, were travelling to another village to attend a function," Makwana said.
Two men and an eight-year-old girl were killed on the spot, while three other occupants of the car sustained severe injuries and were referred to a hospital in Mehsana, the official said.
The police are in the process of establishing the identities of the victims and a search is underway to nab the absconding tanker driver, Makwana added.