Mahoba (Uttar Pradesh), Jan 10 (IANS): Forty buffaloes were killed when a container truck carrying them crashed into a roadside mosque in Mahoba district.

The driver and the owner of the buffaloes, who were in the truck, were also killed in the incident which took place on Monday.

The truck was carrying 50 buffaloes, 10 of whom survived.

The police identified the truck driver as Rajesh Patel while the owner of the buffaloes as Chhote of Rahatgarh in Sagar district of Madhya Pradesh.

The incident took place when the speeding container truck hit a concrete pillar by the road and the driver lost control over the wheels. A shop built next to the mosque and a house were also damaged.

After seven hours of rescue operation under the supervision of SDM and CO Kulpahar, two people, including the driver trapped inside the truck were taken out by cutting the cabin of the truck with a gas cutter and taken to the community health centre in Kulpahar.

While Chhote died on the spot, Rajesh died while being taken to the district hospital.

The police said that a truck going from Mahoba towards Panwadi, crashed into the gate of the mosque near the Sugira village on the highway, damaging its boundary wall as well as the house and a building next to the mosque.

Later, the officials requisitioned JCB machines and cranes, and pulled out the dead buffaloes by breaking the entire enclosure of the truck.