On Monday morning, eight people were found dead and two others rescued when the van they were riding in was washed out as they crossed a flooded drain in Madhya Pradesh town of Padana.
The family was coming from Dewas to visit a place in village Kadnavad in Sarangpur, a ritual observance, when they met with the accident on the Padana bypass, police said.
Sub-divisional police off-cmp boss Arvind Singh said that during the heavy rainfall, water from the overloaded Jhiri drain had poured on the road. When there were a number of local warnings asking the driver not to cross the flooded section, the driver ignored them.
Due to a powerful current of water, the van was dragged into the drain water.
Using ropes and cranes, rescue crews located and removed the vehicle, with some assistance from the local community. Initially, however, there were no occupants in the van. There was an escalation of the search and rescue operation.
An eyewitness, Mahendra Parmar, was quoted as saying that the water had risen due to which it became really hard for the driver to identify the road and the drain. He said that locals had pleaded with the driver to wait for a receding water level but the vehicle proceeded regardless.
Authorities were probing the circumstances leading to the tragedy, said Sub-divisional magistrate Rohit Bamhore.
According to him, heavy rainfall over the last few days had caused the drains to flood. Additionally, 30 feet of bridging on work has commenced on the Jhiri drains with diversion boarding taking place in the vicinity.
But the heavy rainfall made the path very unsafe as the road was submerged. The driver ignored the warnings from the people and the accident where the driver was killed took place.
The incident has brought into focus the risks posed by the flooded roads and drained roads during the monsoon rains. Authorities are investigating the incident, and rescue and relief efforts are underway.