MUMBAI, Jan 25: Seven medical college students were killed in a road accident in Wardha in Maharashtra in the wee hours of Tuesday when the driver lost control and the car fell onto a riverbed from a bridge it was crossing. Locals tried to rescue them but all the seven occupants of the SUV vehicle had died on the spot.

The police said the car hit the bridge's railings and fell 40 feet down on the riverbed strewn with stones and it took hours to retrieve the bodies from the mangled remains of the vehicle. Overspeeding led to the crash, they said.

The students were from the Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Sciences, Sawangi, Wardha. The mishap occurred at Selsura on Nagpur-Tuljapur highway, 20 km from Wardha. They were heading towards Yavatmal after having a feast at a dhaba celebrating the birthday of one of them.

Tirora BJP MLA Vijay Rahangdale's son Avishkar was among those killed in the accident. The other deceased have been identified as Neeraj Chauhan, Nitesh Singh, Vivek Nandan, Pratyush Singh, Shubham Jaiswal and Pawan Shakti.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Rs 2 lakh relief each to the next of kin of the deceased from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund (PMNRF).