Nabarangpur: A four-year-old child was mowed down by a speeding mini-truck struck near the old bus stand in Umerkote town in Odisha’s Nabarangpur district on Sunday.
According to sources, the accident took place when a woman,
a resident of Koigaon village under Dongriguda Panchayat in Jharigaon block, was walking along the busy stretch near the bus stand with her children. While the mother and the other sibling narrowly escaped the impact with minor scares, the four-year-old was caught directly in the path of the mini-truck. A local auto-rickshaw driver rushed the critically injured toddler to the Umerkote Sub-Divisional Hospital, where doctors unfortunately declared him dead upon arrival.
Following the accident, aggrieved residents and onlookers quickly gathered at the scene to protest the chronic reckless driving that regularly endangers pedestrians in the area. Local authorities and the Umerkote police arrived shortly after to secure the area and de-escalate the rising tension.
Police have since seized the body, impounded the mini-truck, and detained the driver for questioning.