Eight dead as SUV hits truck on Agra-Lucknow e-way

In-charge of Fatehabad police station in Agra Kushal Pal Singh said preliminary investigation suggested that all the seven passengers were travelling from Jaunpur to Agra to appear for an interview for the post of teacher at Dr BR Ambedkar University, Agra.

Eight people died after the car they were travelling in hit a truck on the Agra-Lucknow Expressway on Thursday morning, police said.

Wreckage of the vehicle that met with an accident being removed from the Agra-Lucknow Expressway on Thursday.(HT Photo)

On the basis of the identity cards recovered from the spot, the deceased men were identified as Sadafal Yadav, Kamlesh Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav, Rajesh Yadav, Rakesh Kumar, Nagesh Yadav and Anil Kumar (all from Jaunpur) and driver Kamlesh Kumar Pandey of Azamgarh.

In-charge of Fatehabad police station in Agra Kushal Pal Singh said preliminary investigation suggested that all the seven passengers were travelling from Jaunpur to Agra to appear for an interview for the post of teacher at Dr BR Ambedkar University, Agra.

Family members of the deceased have been informed, he said.

“They left Jaunpur at around 10pm on Wednesday. The accident occurred at 8am on Thursday when the car hit a truck moving ahead of it on the Agra-Lucknow Expressway. Six of them died on the spot while the remaining two succumbed to injuries while being taken to SN Hospital in Agra for treatment,” Singh added.

The truck driver fled the spot, while his vehicle has been seized, police said.

He said the car had to be cut open with the help of gas-cutters to take out the bodies.

Singh said the exact reason of the mishap could not be ascertained immediately but prima facie it appeared that the driver may have fallen asleep at the wheel or could not have seen the truck in front.

On March 25, four people, including a doctor and her six-year-old daughter, were charred to death when the roadways bus they were travelling in caught fire after hitting a divider on the Lucknow-Agra Expressway.

The same day, at least 20 people were injured when a private bus overturned on the Agra-Lucknow Expressway in Dauki police station area of Agra.