Nashik (Maharashtra), April 30 (IANS): At least 4 passengers were killed and 35 others injured, including 9 critically, when a state transport bus they were travelling collided with a truck on the Mumbai-Agra Highway in Maharashtra's Nashik on Tuesday morning, officials said.

Among the dead are 2 men, a woman and a 14-year-old boy who were killed instantly in the accident that occurred on the outskirts of Chandwad town around 9.45 a.m.

The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) bus was en route from Bhusawal in Jalgaon district to Nashik town and the crash is said to have occurred when it tried to overtake a goods truck on the highway.

So severe was the crash that more than half of the left front portion of the ST bus was crushed and ripped apart by the impact, trapping many of the victims sitting there, said the official.

The local police and fire brigade were summoned for help and rushed the injured passengers to the Chandwad government hospital and other private hospitals, where the condition of 9 victims was described as serious.

The accident led to a massive traffic snarl on the busy national highway, which was cleared after shifting the two vehicles aside in a couple of hours.