Four tennis ball-cricket players were killed and two others injured after their seven-seater car rammed into the rear of a truck on the Purvanchal Expressway in Sultanpur early Wednesday; police suspect the driver may have dozed off.
Sultanpur circle officer (CO), Baldirai, Ashutosh Kumar said the accident occurred around 5am in the Baldirai police station area when the players were returning to Deoria from Lucknow after participating in a tennis-cricket match in the Bakshi Ka Talab (BKT) area. Police said the car was apparently travelling at around 100 kmph when it crashed into the truck.
The impact left the car severely mangled. Passers-by and security personnel of the Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) had to break open the car doors to rescue those trapped inside. The injured were taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital, where three were declared dead.
Three injured persons were subsequently referred to Ayodhya Medical College, where another succumbed to his injuries.
The deceased were identified as Nitya Prajapati, 22, Irfan Ansari, 20, Aniket Singh, 24, and Anand Yadav, 24. Three died on the spot while Anand succumbed to his injuries later during treatment.
{{/usCountry}}The deceased were identified as Nitya Prajapati, 22, Irfan Ansari, 20, Aniket Singh, 24, and Anand Yadav, 24. Three died on the spot while Anand succumbed to his injuries later during treatment.
{{/usCountry}}The injured were identified as Rajeev Yadav, 22, from Deoria and Jayanto Sharma, 30, from Birbhum district of West Bengal.
One of their team members, Pawan Chaurasia, who was travelling in another vehicle, informed the local police that eleven players from different parts of Deoria had travelled to BKT in Lucknow on Monday night to play a tennis-cricket tournament as members of the Deoria tennis-cricket team. After the match, the players began their return journey in different vehicles.
“I was following the players in another car. Nitya Prajapati, Anand Yadav, Aniket Singh and Irfan Ansari and some other players were travelling in the car that met with the accident. The car belonged to Imran Ansari,” Pawan said. He said the deceased were good cricket players and regularly travelled for tournaments to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and other places.
“They were all good players. We had gone together to Lucknow for the tournament on Monday and were returning after the match,” Pawan said.
Jayanto Sharma, one of the injured, said the occupants were asleep when the crash occurred. “We were sleeping. The impact woke us up. We saw that our car had rammed into the truck. Our companions were covered in blood. Passers-by broke open the doors and pulled us out,” Sharma said.
Police said a preliminary inquiry indicated that the accident may have been caused by the driver falling asleep, but further investigation is underway to establish the exact circumstances.