Three persons were killed when a car they were travelling in hit a road divider and then caught fire on the Samruddhi Expressway in Maharashtra's Buldhana district on Monday morning, police said.

The accident took place between 5 am and 5.30 am near Deulgaon Kol village on the expressway, an official from Bibi police station said.

The car carrying three persons hit a road divider following which one of them fell out of the vehicle, he said.

The official said the car then caught fire in which two persons who were inside the vehicle were charred to death. Another person who had fallen out the vehicle succumbed to injuries in a hospital, he said.

As per preliminary information, there was a diesel can in the car, the official said.

Last Wednesday, four persons were killed after their multi-utility vehicle (MUV) hit a divider on the Samruddhi Expressway in Aurangabad district.

A total of 39 people have lost their lives and 143 were injured in accidents on the Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi Expressway since its launch in December 2022 till the end of April this year, a senior police official earlier said.

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