More than 10 people killed as Indian lorry rams rickshaw

A hunt was launched to catch the truck driver who sped away from the accident

Hindu pilgrims board a bus on the way to Gangasagar, in Kolkata, India, on January 13, 2018. Bikas Das / AP

A speeding truck ploughed into a rickshaw in eastern India killing at least 12 passengers, police said on Monday.

The dead were returning from a Hindu festival late Sunday when the truck rammed the vehicle on a highway in Jharkhand state's Gumla district, some 100 kilometres from state capital Ranchi.

A hunt is on for the truck driver who sped away from the accident, Gumla police chief Anshuman Kumar said.

He said four other passengers were in hospital with serious injuries.

India has some of the world's deadliest roads. More than 150,000 people are killed each year with most accidents blamed on poor roads, badly maintained vehicles and reckless driving.

Last December, at least 32 people were killed after their bus swerved off a bridge and plunged into a river in the western Indian state of Rajasthan.

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