By IANS,
Panaji : Eleven people were injured when they were hit by a vehicle after its brakes failed during a carnival float parade at Goa’s Mapusa town, police said Wednesday. The condition of two of the injured is stated to be critical.
The injured were hospitalised and nine of them have been discharged. However, Sandesh Dabholkar and Virendra Salgaonkar, who received serious injuries Tuesday night, are undergoing treatment at a local medical facility.
Mapusa town is 15 km from here.
“The jeep was tugging the float which had a Goan dance performance being enacted on it. When the jeep’s brakes failed, it hit the by-standers and there was chaos. Eleven people were injured,” a Mapusa police station officer said.
The jeep was part of a float parade sponsored by a popular nightclub from Calangute.
Carnival processions are symbolic of Goa’s colonial Portuguese legacy and are held here every year before the holy season of Lent.
The festival, which involves celebration in form of long continuous parades of gaily coloured floats with masked dancers, is led by “King Momo” or king of the carnival.