A dozen persons were killed in separate mishaps since Thursday night.

Four people were killed in a head-on collision between a truck and a Roadways bus near village Bharehta on Pilibhit-Basti highway in Dhaurahra Kotwali area of Lakhimpur Kheri district on Friday morning.

More than 12 people were seriously injured in the accident.

According to the police, two people died on the spot while two succumbed to their injuries in the hospital. All the injured were rushed to the community health centre in Dhaurahra. Due to the critical condition of many of the injured, the doctor referred them to the district hospital.

In another mishap in Dhaurahara locality of Kheri, a private bus knocked down a couple riding a motorcycle on Kafra Dhakherwa road, killing the wife on the spot. The husband, who was seriously injured, was rushed to the community health centre at Ramya Behad and his condition was said to be critical.

Naseeruddin of Salempur Kon village adjacent to the city was going towards Dhaurahra with his wife Khushnuma when a private bus on the way to Dhaurahra from Lakhimpur hit his motorcycle.

The bus driver fled after the accident.

In another mishap which took place in the Narkhi police station area of Firozabad district, three motorcycle riders were killed late on Thursday evening. The three youths, one of who was celebrating his birthday on the day, were friends and were returning home from the city.

The victims were identified as Shivam of Surajpura village who was celebrating his birthday on Thursday, and his friends Akash and Gaurav. They had gone to the city area to celebrate the birthday and were returning to Fariha when they met with the accident.

In a separate mishap, a woman crossing the road on Muzaffarnagar-Gagalheri State Highway in Nagal area of Saharanpur district was hit by a vehicle on Friday morning, and died on the spot.

Angoori Devi (55) wife Nathiram, a resident of Kapasi village of Nagal police station area, was returning to her village by a bike from Bharatpur with her son Monu. As soon as they reached Kota, his son tried to cross the road by an illegal cut on the road divider while his mother started crossing the road on foot. Meanwhile, a vehicle coming from Gagalhedi's side hit her and she died on the spot.

In Jaunpur, three persons, including a minor boy, died while two others were injured when a leaking LPG cylinder kept inside a hut caught fire in Kewatli village of Maharajganj, police said on Friday.

The mishap took place when Neelam, (28), wife of one Akhilesh Vishwakarma (30) of Kewatli, was going to boil milk. Her husband Akhilesh, two children Shivansh (5) and Yuvraj (3) were sleeping in the hut at the time of the incident on Thursday evening. As she lit a match stick, the gas leaking from the LPG cylinder caught fire and within no time engulfed the entire hut.

Hearing their screams, locals ran to the spot and Akhilesh's elder brother Suresh, 32, tried to rescue all the four by jumping into the inferno, police said. With the help of locals, Suresh was able to bring out all the four. The police then took them to a nearby government hospital where after giving first aid doctors referred them to district hospital. However, Suresh, Neelam and Shivansh died of burn injuries during treatment while the condition of Akhilesh and his other son were said to be critical, said police.