A truck mowed down a group of pilgrims on the Durgapur Expressway at Chanditala in Hooghly district on Sunday, killing 13 of them including an eight-year-old boy and injuring 12 others.

The pilgrims were from Jharkhand. They had stepped out on the road after their bus had broken down. The pilgrims had started off on Sunday, visited various relgious sites in Jharkhand and left Deoghar for West Bengal early on Monday morning. With plans to visit the Shiva temple at Tarakeswar and Kalighat in Kolkata, the 60-odd pilgrims boarded two buses but one of these broke down near the Kapaspharia crossing around 2.30 am. While it was being repaired, some pilgrims strolled around while the others rested on the road. The 10-wheeled truck, laden with sand, was travelling from Burdwan. In the dark, it hit the bus, ran over the pilgrims on the road and hurtled down the slope of the highway, dragging the bus along.