Five women, including a five-year-old girl, were killed and six others injured when a crane rammed into a pick-up van they were supposed to travel in, at Seraikela-Kharswan district today, police said.
The incident happened at Khairboni village under the jurisdiction of Rajnagar police station, the police said.
The passengers were boarding the pick-up van on Tata-Chaibasa road when the crane rammed into it, a police officer said, adding that the women and the child died after the van overturned under the impact of the collision.
The six injured were taken to a nearby health centre initially, the officer said.
Later, the doctors there referred four seriously injured passengers to M G M Hospital in Jamshedpur, he added.
An irate mob put up a road blockade after the incident demanding adequate compensation to the families of the victims and arrest of the crane's driver, the police officer said.
Senior district officials and police officers pursued them to withdraw the blockade after sometime, he added.