Five kanwariyas died and eight others were injured when a truck driver lost control over his vehicle near Chakai market, around 70km from the Jamui district headquarters and 237km southeast of Patna, on Tuesday morning.

The injured have been admitted to Jamui Sadar Hospital. The sand-laden truck also fell into a roadside ditch.

A group of 15 kanwariyas from Pipraiya village in Bettiah district were returning home in a Tata-407 after offering Ganga water on the Lord Shiv idol at Baba Baidyanath Dham in Jharkhand's Deoghar district early morning. They stopped near a petrol pump at Chakai market around 7.30am after a tyre puncture. The speeding truck, which was going to Deoghar from Giridih, knocked down the 13 kanwariyas who were waiting by the roadside.

"It is an unfortunate incident," Jamui district magistrate Kaushal Kishore told The Telegraph. "The tyre of the speeding truck got punctured all of a sudden and the driver lost control."

He added: "After completion of the post-mortem of all five bodies of kanwariyas, the Jamui district administration will send them to Bettiah."

Jamui civil surgeon Dr Ajit Kumar said: "Two kanwariyas are in very serious condition as they have suffered multiple head injuries. They will be referred to PMCH for better treatment."