At least six persons were killed and 15 injured when a speeding truck ran over bystanders in Lakhimpur Kheri on late Saturday night, police said.
The accident happened when the killer truck ploughed into bystanders, mostly villagers, who gathered at the roadside following a car-scooty collision near Pangi village on the Kheri-Bahraich highway.
The deceased were identified as Rizwan (20), Karan (14), Paras Nishad (84), Karunesh Verma (30), Virendra Verma and Jang Bahadur (17), all from Pangi Khurd village in Lakhimpur Kheri.
Superintendent of Police Ganesh Prasad Saha along with other police officials rushed to the spot and monitored the operations to rescue the victims.
According to police officials, a car going towards Bahraich on Pilibhit Basti road near Pangi Khurd village hit a scooty coming from the opposite direction at around 7:30 pm in which the scooty rider sustained injuries. After this, a crowd gathered on the spot, most of whom were residents of the village. The speeding truck coming from Bahraich ran over the crowd and fell into a ditch. The injured were rushed to the district hospital for treatment.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath expressed grief over the loss of lives, and directed officials to ensure proper treatment of the injured persons, the chief medical officer said in a tweet in Hindi. District Magistrate Mahendra Bahadur Singh, Chief Development Officer Anil Kumar Singh and Superintendent of Police Ganesh Prasad Saha took cognisance of the accident. Identification of the injured was underway.
The Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party expressed condolences and urged the UP government to give compensation to the families of the victims.
Meanwhile, a motorcycle-borne man and his son were hit by a truck while going to distribute wedding cards in Kannauj district. They died on the spot.
After the accident, the driver fled with the truck.
Komal, daughter of farmer Awadhesh Dubey (50) of Nathapurwa village of Tirwa Kotwali area is to be married on February 15. Aditya Dubey (26), the family’s only son working in a furniture factory in Bareilly, came home on January 28. Awadhesh Dubey had left the house to distribute the wedding card with his son Aditya on Sunday morning. A speeding truck hit their bike on the bypass near Pal crossing in Sadar Kotwali, killing Awadhesh and Aditya on the spot.
Kotwali in-charge Rajkumar Singh said that both the bodies were sent for autopsy and efforts were on to nab the truck driver.
Meanwhile, Vedprakash (50) and his wife Shakuntala Devi (48) of Bari village under Pilibhit police station Newriya, were killed in a collision between a Bolero and an unknown vehicle near Lauhangapur forest on the Khutar Puranpur state highway in Shahjahanpur at around one o'clock on Saturday night.
Ved Prakash had left for Ayodhya on Saturday night with family members and relatives. His Bolero collided with a vehicle due to fog in Lauhangapur forest. Vedprakash and Shakuntala Devi died on the spot. After this, the driver of the other vehicle fled along with the vehicle.
On getting information about the accident, the police reached the spot and sent the injured to the community health centre where the doctor pronounced Vedprakash and Shakuntala Devi dead. Seriously injured Ram Singh, his wife Anita Devi, son Aryan, Ashok Kumar, his wife Sarita Devi, Anand Swaroop were referred to government medical college. Vedprakash's son Kamal Kumar filed a complaint against the unknown driver.
