New Delhi (dpa) - At least 45 wedding revellers died in a road crash
and a boat capsize in India's Rajasthan and Maharashtra states, police
and news reports said Thursday.

Twenty-four people, including five children, were killed when the
pick-up truck they were travelling in rammed into a lorry in the
north-western state of Rajasthan on Wednesday night.

Three passengers were injured in the accident, near the Dechu
village some 120 kilometres west of state capital Jaipur. The group was
returning home after attending a wedding function in a nearby village.

"The pick-up, which was carrying 27 passengers, hit the lorry
head-on. The collision was so deadly that 17 people died on the scene,"
Bhanwar Singh, a local policeman said over the phone.

"Seven passengers succumbed to their injuries on way to the
hospital. The victims belonged to one family and included seven women
and five children," Singh said.

Police said they were investigating the cause of the accident.

Disaster struck another marriage party in the western state of
Maharashtra some hours earlier on Wednesday night when 21 people died
in a boat capsize.

The IANS news agency reported that the boat capsized in the river
Neera near Pune city, 115 kilometres south of India's financial capital
of Mumbai.

Among the victims, 14 were said to be from the same family.

In its report, the PTI news agency said nine of the 28 people on
the boat were rescued by villagers who rushed to the scene after
hearing distress calls.

Quoting witnesses, the report said that the boat had tilted and
lost its balance in deep water due to strong winds. Police and local
authorities said they will continue the search for the missing bodies.
(dpa)