Seven people, including two children and a woman, died on Monday (August 10, 2026) in Madhya Pradesh’s Rajgarh district when a van was washed away amid flood-like situation by heavy rains, police said.
According to the police, the incident took place in the early hours on Monday (August 10, 2026) when the van was trying to cross a small bridge that had water flowing over, near a bypass in Padana village under Sarangpur tehsil.
There were 11 passengers, including women and children, in the car, and two people have been rescued alive while rescue efforts are on for two missing persons, Sarangpur Sub-Divisional Officer, Police (SDOP) Arvind Singh told The Hindu.
The victims are residents of Dewas district.
A purported video from the scene shows two locals rescuing one of the passengers using a rope amid neck-deep water levels.
Mr. Singh said that about 45 villages across the tehsil are facing flood like situation and urban areas are dealing with severe water-logging, prompting rescue efforts across in areas that witnessed sudden rise in water levels.
“The area has received cloudburst-like rain since around midnight [Sunday] and the situation turned bad very quickly in several villages. The administration and the police have been running rescue efforts since early morning to bring people to safety,” he said.
“In the morning, we received information from Padana about the van. The rescue teams reached the spot soon and seven bodies have been recovered so far. The search operation is going on to find the two missing persons,” Mr. Singh said.
“Locals are saying that the driver showed negligence and moved ahead to cross the bridge even after people warned him about high-flowing water,” the officer added.
Published – August 10, 2026 03:04 pm IST
