Balasore: In a freak accident on National Highway in Odisha’s Balasore district, a 25-year-old woman and her six-year-old son were killed after heavy iron plates loaded on a truck in which they were travelling slipped and fell on them on Friday morning.
The deceased have been identified as Sambari Soren and her son Saurabh Soren, residents of Shyamsundarpur village under Nilgiri block in Balasore. Another woman from the same family sustained critical injuries.
According to sources, the accident took place at around 6 am when seven persons, including the two women, a youth and four children, belonging to Bijay Soren’s family were returning home from Paradip in Jagatsinghpur district, where they had gone for work as labourers. They took a lift in the truck loaded with iron plates from Chandikhol in Jajpur district on Thursday night. The adults, along with the children, were sitting in the open rear portion of the vehicle. The driver of the truck applied brakes near a speed breaker at Markona on the National Highway under Simulia police station limits, following which the unsecured iron plates shifted violently and crashed down on those at the back. Sambari and her young son suffered fatal injuries, while the other woman was critically injured.
Locals rushed to their help and admitted them to the Community Health Centre (CHC) at Simulia, where doctors declared the mother and son dead. The other woman, who has sustained severe injuries, is being treated at the CHC.
Simulia Police have reached the site of the accident and seized the truck. The driver of the truck is absconding and efforts are on to track him down for questioning.
