Thirteen cows were charred to death after a truck carrying them caught fire in Madhya Pradesh's Ujjain district, police said on Sunday.
The incident took place late Saturday night near Ghinoda village under Khachrod police station limits, they said.
The truck was carrying more than 20 bovine animals.
Some people saw the vehicle, which was without the driver, up in flames and tried to douse the blaze, but five cows and eight calves died by that time, Khachrod police station in-charge Ravindra Yadav said.
The villagers claimed that 10-15 cows saved by them from the truck ran away into a nearby forest, he said.
Five cows saved from the truck were sent to a shelter, he said.
A search was on for the vehicle's owner, driver and helper to get details about the incident, he said.