Seven people, including a six-month-old child, were killed and 20 were injured when their minibus rammed into a truck on National Highway-44 in Ambala cantonment on Friday, police said.

Police said that the accident took place opposite NDI Plaza near Mohra village early in the morning when the truck suddenly applied brakes and the Tempo Traveller rammed into it.

Eyewitnesses said that the impact was such that the front portion of the minibus was smashed and bodies were found a few metres away on the road.

The injured were rushed to the civil hospital in Ambala cantonment, where the medical officer on duty, Dr Kaushal Kumar said, “We received eight victims of which three were dead and three were referred due to serious injuries. We received information that the bodies of four people have been kept at the morgue at Adesh Medical College in Shahbad. The rest of the injured are undergoing treatment there.”

Parao police station SHO inspector Dalip said that the truck driver fled the spot and a case has been registered against him.

The deceased were identified as Vinod, 50, Manoj, 42, Satbir, 45, Mehar Chand, 70, and six-month-old Deepti. The identity of the rest of the victims was being ascertained as 27 passengers were travelling in the vehicle that was headed from Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh to the Vaishno Devi shrine in Katra.