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Fifteen killed as truck runs over devotees at a Gwalior temple

Police say the paddy truck was stopped at a barricade on the steep road to the Shitala Mata temple before the driver lost control, ploughing into devotees and street stalls.

ScrollBeat DeskPublished: 18 Oct 2026, 12:45

The Sheetla Mata temple in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, where a paddy truck ran over devotees waiting near the temple gate in the early hours of 18 October 2026. Photo: Gyanendra Singh Chau via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0 Gyanendra Singh Chau / Wikimedia Commons

At least 15 people were killed and more than two dozen injured when a paddy-laden truck ran over Hindu devotees outside the Shitala Mata temple in Gwalior and crashed into the temple gate early on Sunday, police said.

The accident happened at around 1.30am on the Chhinor road, a steep stretch where heavy vehicles are restricted during the Navratri festival. Police said the truck was stopped at a barricade, but the driver lost control on the slope and ploughed into roadside stalls and devotees before the vehicle broke through the barricade and hit the temple's entrance gate.

The force of the impact brought down part of the gateway wall, trapping several people under the debris. Rescue teams and police pulled out the injured, who were rushed to hospitals in Gwalior. Five or six of them were in a critical condition, officials said.

Gwalior Superintendent of Police Dharamveer Yadav said a preliminary investigation pointed to a mechanical failure that caused the driver to lose control. The truck's owner, Mohit Singh, and its driver, Dilbag Singh, have been arrested.

Gwalior District Collector Ruchika Chauhan said barricades and a police checkpoint had been in place on the road for Navratri, and investigators were trying to establish how the truck got through them. A Regional Transport Office team was sent to inspect the vehicle, and doctors carried out CT scans and X-rays on the injured.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was "distressed" by the loss of lives. His office announced compensation of 200,000 rupees for the family of each person killed and 50,000 rupees for each of the injured from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund.

Police first put the death toll at 12 before it rose to 15 later in the morning. Nearly 40 people were taken to hospital, and all the dead were from Gwalior and neighbouring districts.

The crash came on the same weekend that a stampede outside a Durga Puja pandal in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata killed at least 19 people, a reminder of the risks at large religious gatherings in India.

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