Ten persons were killed and 20 others injured after a speeding bus collided with a truck in Maharashtra's Nashik district on Friday morning, police officials said.

The private luxury bus was carrying employees of a company based at Ambernath in Thane district who were heading for the temple town of Shirdi in Ahmednagar district, officials said.

There were a total of 45 passengers in the bus.

The incident took place around 6 am near Pathare Shivar in Nashik's Sinnar tehsil, around 180 km from Mumbai, officials said.

The deceased included seven women, two small boys and a man.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief over the loss of life and announced ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh from the PM National Relief Fund to the next-of-kin of each deceased. The injured would be given Rs 50,000 each, the PMO tweeted.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde also announced financial help of Rs 5 lakh each for the kin of the deceased while ordering an inquiry into the cause of the accident.

The injured were taken to the Sinnar Rural Hospital and Yashwant Hospital in Sinnar.

The death toll may increase as the condition of some of the injured was said to be critical, officials said.

In a tweet, Chief Minister Shinde expressed grief over the incident. The government will bear the expenses of the treatment of the injured persons, a statement from his office said.

Shinde spoke to the Nashik divisional commissioner and asked him to shift the injured immediately to Nashik and Shirdi for treatment and also conduct an inquiry into the causes of the accident, it added.

Nashik collector Gangatharan D said that of the ten deceased persons, six have been identified.

Nashik guardian minister Dada Bhuse visited a hospital in Sinnar where some of the injured persons were undergoing treatment, he said.

He will also visit the accident spot, the collector said.

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