Road accident
[Representational Image]Reuters

At least eleven people, including a 5-year-old girl, were killed and 15 others injured when a minibus crashed into a luxury bus on Monday morning.

The accident took place on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad national highway (NH8) in Maharashtra's Palghar district at around 3:30 am. The minibus was on its way to Surat from Mumbai.

State Highway Patrol Security officials said that initial investigation suggests that the accident occurred because the minibus driver fell asleep while driving.

"The death toll so far is 11. While 10 bodies, six males and four females, have been taken to Talasari Rural Hospital. The five-year-old minor who died in road accident has been taken to Vinoda Bhave Hospital in Khanewal, which falls in Dadra and Nagar Haveli area," The Indian Express  quoted Talasari police official S P Daniware as saying.

"We have made inquires with eye-witnesses, mainly nearby truck drivers, and also the tyre prints of the minibus left on the road indicates a sudden change in course of the vehicle," said Gaurav Shinde, police official with the State Highway Patrol.