At least 16 people, 15 of them students, were injured on Wednesday when a state transport (ST) bus returning from a school picnic rammed into a tractor in Pune district of Maharashtra, police said. The bus driver also suffered serious injuries in the accident which took place in the early hours near a petrol pump in Talegaon Dabhade on the outskirts of Pune city, around 160km from here, an official said.

The ST bus packed with the students of B J Khatal School at Sangamner in Ahmednagar district of western Maharashtra collided with the tractor, leaving 15 of them injured, he said. The students were returning from a school picnic in Alibaug, a coastal town in adjoining Raigad district, the official said.