7 youths killed in accident on Mumbai-Goa highway

The death of seven city youths, who were killed when their vehicle rammed into a tree on the Mumbai-Goa highway near Ratnagiri on Wednesday morning, has come as a shocker for locals in the area.

The parents of the deceased, identified by the police as Sachin Sawant, Prashant Gurav, Akshay Kerkar, Nihal Kotian, Kedar Todankar, Vaibhav Manve and Mayur Belekar, have not been informed about their deaths, but have been told that they are injured and receiving treatment in hospital.

One member of the group, Abhishek Kamble, was injured and is in hospital for treatment. Locals also reminisced about the charitable activities that the youths were involved in.

Locals would often seek their help in organising various cultural and social events in their localities. The incident took place around 6 am on Wednesday. ?

The group left for a trip on Wednesday, with plans to return on Saturday. The group was reportedly supposed to visit Calangute in Goa first.

"They were very excited about the trip. They had been planning it for two months," said a friend of Sachin Sawant.