A passenger and a driver were miraculously pulled alive from an SUV crushed between two lorries in India.

Ritesh Singh was travelling home with his driver, Dinbandhu, in a Mahindra Bolero when their vehicle was caught in a terrifying collision between two moving trailers.

Dramatic footage shows the Bolero following closely behind a trailer that suddenly brakes to a stop in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, on the afternoon of August 4.

The SUV also comes to a halt, but within seconds, another trailer slams into the rear, sandwiching the Bolero between the two heavy vehicles.

Reports said both the passenger and the driver survived. Locals rushed to the scene and broke open the damaged vehicle to rescue them.

Police have since launched an investigation and confirmed that one of the trailers was seized and its driver arrested, while efforts are ongoing to locate the second lorry involved.

In another incident, a rickshaw was flattened like a concertina between two buses in a horrifying crash that left at least five people seriously injured in Chitradurga, Karnataka, on the same day.

The speeding coach crashed into the back of the slow-moving three-wheeled vehicle, shunting it into another bus travelling ahead.

Police have seized both buses involved, and a case has been registered at the city traffic police station.

India has one of the highest rates of road accidents in the world, with thousands of fatalities and injuries reported each year.

The poor track record is blamed on unsafe road conditions, reckless driving, inadequate enforcement of traffic laws, and a lack of awareness about road safety.