Navsari (Gujarat)/IBNS: As many as nine people were killed and 32 others injured in a collision between a bus and SUV in Gujarat’s Navsari in the wee hours of Saturday, media reports said.

Out of the 32 injured, 17 were taken to a hospital in Valsad, while 14 were admitted to a hospital in Navsari, Additional district collector Ketan Joshi told India Today.

There were nine passengers in the SUV (Fortuner), who were employees of a firm in Ankleshwar, while the bus was carrying people from Ahmedabad to Valsad, he said.

Nine bodies were recovered by police teams deployed and taken for postmortem, Joshi said.

He said the SUV was coming from the wrong direction and hit the divider before ramming into the bus, adding that the investigators are guessing that the driver of the SUV must have fallen asleep.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief over the loss of lives and said, "Pained by the loss of lives due to a road accident in Navsari. My thoughts are with the bereaved families. I hope the injured recover soon. An ex-gratia of Rs. 2 lakh from PMNRF would be given to the next of kin of each deceased. Those injured would be given Rs. 50,000."