Five Killed In Road Mishap; Irate Locals Stage Road Blockade

Puri: Five persons were killed and 3 others seriously injured when an auto-rickshaw in which they were travelling collided head-on with a speeding truck on Nirakarpur-Chandanpur Jagannath Road near Sukala in Odisha’s Puri district on Sunday night.

According to police, eight persons Andalsing village under Kanas police station limits had gone to Puri for cremation of their kin at Swargadwara.

After completing the cremation work, they were on the way to their village with an auto-rickshaw (OD-13-AF-0112) when it collided head-on with a speeding truck (OR-09-E-7371). The auto-rickshaw was dragged and later hit a roadside tree. The incident took place at about 11.30 PM.

While two persons died on the spot, two others died at Puri District Headquarters Hospital. The four seriously injured persons, who were admitted to Puri District Headquarters Hospital, were later shifted to SCB Medical College and Hospital where another person succumbed to his injuries, police said.

The deceased have been identified as Umakanta Baliarsingh (55), Kumara Biwal (62), Sunil Samantray (50), Dibakar Boral (48) and auto-rickshaw driver Tapan Biswal (24).

The condition of the 3 seriously injured persons, identified as Sarbeswar Mahapatra (60), Maguni Nayak (35) and Sagar Pradhan (65) is stated to be critical, reports said.

Eyewitnesses said both the drivers lost control of their vehicle as the road was not visible due to dense fog.

Following the incident, tension ran high in the area after irate locals staged a road blockade on Jagannath Sadak. Till reports last came in, armed police forces have been deployed in the area to ward off any untoward incident.