Mumbai, Dec 25 : Two sisters proceeding in a pilgrim group for Jejuri were killed Friday when a water tanker rammed into their Qualis jeep from behind on the outskirts of Mumbai, police said.

The accident occurred just before the Vashi toll checkpost in Navi Mumbai around 7.20 a. m. on Christmas morning when traffic density was relatively low.

The jeep in which they were travelling with at least seven others, was approaching the Vashi checkpost where toll is collected, when a speeding tanker rammed it from the rear and sped off, an official of Navi Mumbai Police said.

Pranali Prakash Shinde, 18, and Swapnali Prakash Shinde, 16, were crushed to death on the spot while the jeep was virtually reduced to a heap of metal by the impact.

The seven other group members also sustained varying degrees of injuries and at least two are reported to be serious in the Mahatma Gandhi Mission Hospital, Vashi.

The group members - all of them residents of Worli Police Camp - were proceeding on a pilgrimage to Jejuri Temple at Jejuri, around 75 km from Pune, when the accident took place.

Police in all neighbouring districts are on the lookout for the absconding driver of the tanker (MH-15-K-6185) whose number was noted by some alert locals on the Eastern Express highway.(IANS)