BETUL: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday expressed grief at the loss of lives in an accident that happened in Betul district of Madhya Pradesh.

The PM he offered ex gratia payments of Rs 50,000 for each injured person and Rs 2 lakh for each deceased person's next of kin.

His office issued the following statement in a tweet quoting Modi: "Pained by the loss of lives due to an accident in Betul, MP. Condolences to the bereaved families. May the injured recover quickly. An ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh from PMNRF would be given to the next of kin of each deceased. Rs 50,000 would be given to the injured.

Road tragedy in Betul: In the early hours of Friday (November 4), 11 people, including two children, were killed when the sports utility vehicle (SUV) they were travelling in slammed into an empty bus in Jhallar in Madhya Pradesh's Betul district.

According to assistant sub-inspector Shivraj Singh Thakur of the Betul police control room, the accident happened on Bhainsdehi road, about 36 kilometres from the district headquarters.

"In the accident that occurred at around 2:00 am, six males, three women, a girl of around five years old, and a toddler perished on the spot," he said.

The deceased were workers, according to the police, and they were on their way home from Amravati in the neighbouring Maharashtra region.
The extent of the collision required that some victims' bodies be extracted from the wreckage of the SUV using gas cutters before being transferred for post-mortem examination.

The primary inquiry indicates that the SUV struck the bus after the bus's driver fell asleep, according to the police, who have opened an investigation and registered a case.

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