Lucknow, Nov 9 (PTI) At least 22 people were killed and 64 injured in nine separate road accidents across Uttar Pradesh on Monday, a day after Diwali, with several crashes occurring in the early morning hours, officials said.
The deadliest of these accidents occurred in Muzaffarnagar, where six people were burnt alive when their car overturned and caught fire after hitting a divider and an electric pole.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath offered condolences to the bereaved and directed officials to extend all possible help to the victims’ families.
In Chitrakoot, four people, including two children, were killed and 12 injured after a tractor-trolley overturned, while three people died and 41 were injured after a bus veered off the Lucknow-Agra Expressway in the state capital.
Several of the accidents occurred before sunrise, when visibility might have been affected by the onset of winter and increased pollution levels in the state.
Authorities suspect reduced visibility could have contributed to some of the crashes, although it has yet to be established in these cases.
The Muzaffarnagar accident occurred around 4.45 am near Jagahedi village under the Titawi police station area on the Panipat-Khatima highway.
The victims were identified as Rahul (22), Ankit (21), Sahil (22), who was driving the car, Ajay (22), Ankit (22) and Aman (19), all residents of Hisar in Haryana, who were on their way to Haridwar.
SSP Suraj Kumar Rai said it is suspected that the car was travelling at a high speed when the driver lost control.
SP (Rural) Akshay Sanjay said police and fire brigade teams rushed to the spot and took the occupants of the car to the district hospital, where doctors declared them dead.
In Chitrakoot, the victims were returning after visiting religious sites when the vehicle’s coupling mechanism (hook) came off, causing the tractor-trolley to lose control and overturn on the roadside, trapping the occupants underneath, District Magistrate Pulkit Garg said.
The incident occurred at around 2.30 am near Ramnagar in Mau tehsil.
Garg said the injured were taken to a community health centre in Ramnagar, where doctors declared four people dead, including two children.
Of the 12 injured, seven were seriously hurt while five sustained minor injuries. They were referred to a higher medical centre in Prayagraj, the official said.
The tractor-trolley was carrying around 25 people, including the members of a family from Madhya Pradesh’s Rewa district, he added.
In Lucknow, three people were killed and 41 injured after a bus travelling from Beawar in Rajasthan to Chhapra in Bihar lost control and overturned into a ditch near the Zero Point on the Lucknow-Agra Expressway around 6 am.
Deputy Chief Minister and Health Minister Brajesh Pathak said one injured passenger was declared dead at the Lok Bandhu Hospital while two others were declared dead at the King George’s Medical University (KGMU).
Arrangements have been made to ensure proper treatment for the injured, he said.
Police identified two of the deceased as Shankar Rajjak (63) and Shamli Rai (43), both residents of Chhapra. The identity of the third victim, a man aged about 35 years, is yet to be established.
Later, in a letter to the additional chief secretary (home), transport commissioner, CEO of UPEIDA, and MD of UPSRTC, Pathak called for a coordinated policy to enforce speed limits on state expressways, conduct periodic counselling of drivers and make pre-entry health checks mandatory to ensure they had not consumed intoxicating substances.
In Shahjahanpur, the conductor and helper of a private bus were crushed to death by an unidentified truck after they got down to inspect the vehicle on the Ganga Expressway.
The incident occurred around 3 km from the Jalalabad toll plaza when the bus was travelling from Delhi to Jharkhand, SP Saurabh Dixit said.
The conductor, Vipin Yadav (50), and helper, Kaushal (35), both from Bihar, had got down to inspect a windowpane after passengers reported hearing a loud noise from it when the truck ran them over, killing them on the spot, the officer said.
Body parts of the two victims were scattered up to 20 metres from the accident site, police said.
In another early morning accident in Lucknow, a 22-year-old man was killed and a 17-year-old boy injured after a four-wheeler hit their two-wheeler near the Dev Hospital under the Manaknagar police station area.
The deceased has been identified as Deepanshu Rawat, a resident of Bijnor area, while the injured teenager, also from the same locality, is undergoing treatment at the Lok Bandhu Raj Narayan Combined Hospital.
In Muzaffarnagar, a 15-year-old boy named Monish was killed and his friend Nikhil was seriously injured after a speeding UP State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) bus hit their motorcycle near Sanjak village.
Local SHO Gajendra Kumar said the bus driver fled the spot, leaving the vehicle behind, which police have seized.
In Jalaun, three persons lost their lives and one was injured in a head-on collision between a car and a motorcycle near Mahoi village within the Madhaugarh police station limits on Monday evening, police said.
Circle Officer Ambuj Yadav said the deceased have been identified as Nripendra Singh (32), Parth (17), both from Jalaun, and Manvi (4) from Jhansi, and the injured as Arti Verma (30), who was travelling on the bike.
In Sultanpur, a youth named Alok Upadhyay (18) was killed after a Tata Safari hit his motorcycle late Monday evening, police said.
Three children travelling with the deceased were injured in the accident, two of whom have been referred to the Lucknow Trauma Centre with critical injuries, they said.
At Deoband in Saharanpur district, a car collided with three motorcycles on Monday evening, killing a man and injuring five others, police said.
Circle Officer Amit Singh said Ashwani (32), a resident of Saharanpur district, was returning home on a bike with his wife Shalu, when the speeding car hit their two-wheeler. The car also struck two other motorcycles, injuring four individuals riding them.
All six were taken to a primary health centre, where doctors declared Ashwani dead, while Shalu was sent to the district hospital with critical injuries, the officer said. PTI COR KIS NAV ARI APL
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