Batala (Punjab), Aug 26 - Four pilgrims were killed and five others critically injured when the jeep they were travelling in collided with a speeding truck here Wednesday, police said.

The accident occurred in front of a sugar mill in Batala town in Gurdaspur district, some 250 km from state capital Chandigarh.

The deceased were returning to Rajasthan after paying obeisance at Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu and Kashmir.

'Four people (two men and two women), including the driver of the jeep, died on the spot. Five pilgrims were admitted to a local civil hospital from where they were later shifted to Guru Nanak Dev hospital in Amritsar,' a police officer said.

He added: 'Ten people were travelling in this jeep. Both the vehicles were coming from opposite sides at very high speed when they collided. The lone person who escaped unhurt was a five-year-old girl.'

Police have impounded the truck and registered a case against the driver, who fled from the spot.