Road accident claims eight lives in Bengal
Accidents continue to claim lives on highways in Bengal despite chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s stress on her ‘Safe Drive, Safe Life’ campaign, with 15 deaths from two incidents taking place within a week.
Accidents continue to claim lives on highways in Bengal despite chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s stress on her ‘Safe Drive, Safe Life’ campaign, with 15 deaths from two incidents taking place within a week.
Eight persons in a four-wheeler died on a state highway in Burdwan district’s Kanksa area in the wee hours on Sunday, when the car rammed into a truck head-on. Seven persons died on the spot while two were taken to a hospital. While one of the injured was released from the hospital after primary treatment, the other succumbed to his injuries in the afternoon.
Police were yet to identify the deceased till afternoon but learnt that they were residents of Samudragarh in Burdwan district and were returning from a village fair in neighbouring Birbhum district.
From primary investigation they suspect the accident happened when the four-wheeler was overtaking a truck, as another truck coming from the other end rammed into it. “It seems both the vehicles were running at 80-100 km/ hr. The four-wheeler was completely mangled,” an officer at Kanksa police station said.
The driver of the truck is on the run and police has initiated an investigation.
This accident took place barely four days after all seven members of a family, including two women and three children, were killed when a tar-laden truck overturned on their car on NH 2 in the same district.
The chief minister had recently expressed grave concerns over increasing accident deaths, especially in the capital city and its suburbs, and had asked the police of taking strong action against traffic rule violators.