9 dead after pick-up van falls into well in Maharashtra's Solapur

8 dead after pick-up van falls into well in Maharashtra's Solapur

KOLHAPUR: Four children and four women drowned after a pick-up truck carrying 14 people veered off the road and fell into an uncovered well at Tandulwadi village along the Mhaswad-Pandharpur Road around 6 pm on Sunday. Police said the victims and survivors belonged to the same extended family and hailed from Ranjani village in Pandharpur. They were returning home after a pilgrimage to the Siddhanath temple in Mhaswad, Satara district. Assistant Police Inspector Ashish Kamble of Velapur police in rural Solapur told TOI, “The cause of the accident is being ascertained, as the immediate focus is on securing medical help for the survivors and collecting details.” Prima facie, it appears that the driver of the pick-up truck lost control of the vehicle, causing it to veer off the road and plunge into the square-shaped well, which had no protective barriers, police said. At least six people survived the accident after being rescued by villagers who rushed to the spot, police added. The accident revived memories of a similar tragedy in which nine members of a family were killed when their car plunged into a water-filled roadside well in the Shivajinagar area of Dindori town in Nashik district on the night of April 3, 2026. In that case, the driver failed to notice the uncovered well, which lacked a protective barrier.