Driver lost control of the steering wheel and the jeep fell into the river 40 feet below, police said.

Four women and two girls were killed in Bhandara district of Maharashtra Tuesday when the overcrowded jeep they were traveling in fell off a bridge across a river, police said.

Against the permitted eight passengers, the jeep, turned into a black-and-yellow licensed taxi, was carrying 13 persons, police said.

Among those dead were three young women who had passed their class 12 exam only days earlier.

The accident took place around 3.30 pm on a bridge on the Chulbandh river on Sakoli-Lakhandur road near Kumbhli village, a police official said.

The driver lost control over the steering wheel and the jeep fell into the river 40 feet below, he said.

Those killed were identified as Shital Suresh Raut, 12, her sister Ashwini Suresh Raut, 20, both residents of Sangadi village; Gungun Hitesh Palandurkar, 15, resident of Gondia; Shilpa Srirang Kawale, 20, Sharda Gajanan Gotefode, 45, both residents of Sasra village and Surekha Dewaji Kumbre, 20, resident of Sasratoli.

Ashwini, Shilpa and Surekha had just passed their class 12 exam and were returning from Sakoli where they had gone for college admission, police said.

Three women were seriously injured and admitted to a hospital in Bhandara, while four others, including the driver, were sent to a government hospital in Sakoli. Police has registered a case.