41 killed in road accident in northern India

LUCKNOW—At least 41 people were killed when a passenger-laden wagon pulled by a tractor plunged into a deep water-filled ditch Monday in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

“Most of the victims drowned,” local magistrate Madhukar Dwivedi told AFP by telephone from the accident site in Ballia district, some 350 kilometers (220 miles) southwest of the state capital Lucknow.

The victims included 30 women and 11 men, Dwivedi said, adding that preliminary investigations suggested overloading had caused the wagon to overturn.

More than 50 people had crammed into the open-top wagon to attend a religious festival at a nearby village, Dwivedi said.