NEW DELHI, May 18 (Xinhua) -- At least 10 people were killed on Monday in a head-on collision between a goods truck and a passenger van in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, police said.

The accident took place near Adalispur village in Lakhimpur Kheri district, about 140 km north of Lucknow, the capital city of Uttar Pradesh, as a speeding truck rammed into a passenger van on the Pilibhit-Basti highway.

Nine people were killed on the spot, while a critically injured man later died during treatment at the district hospital.

"The truck has been seized but its driver fled from the scene after the accident. Efforts are underway to trace the absconding driver," a police official said.

According to police, the truck driver coming from the opposite direction allegedly lost control of his vehicle and crashed head-on into the passenger van.

Deadly road accidents are common in India, often caused due to overloading, bad condition of roads and reckless driving.

Federal minister of road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari recently said India records nearly half a million road accidents and 180,000 related fatalities annually. ■