12 killed as van crashes into stationary truck in UP
LAKHIMPUR KHERI : Twelve people, including two women, were killed and four others critically injured when an overloaded van crashed into a stationary truck on national highway 24 here early on Saturday morning.
The truck was parked at a roadside dhaba in Uchaulia. The van, owned by a Shahjahanpur resident, was on its way to Sitapur carrying 18 people, including driver Anoop Awasthi and two infants. Kheri district magistrate Shailendra Kumar Singh, superintendent of police Dr S Channappa, deputy SP Vijay Anand, Pasgawan and Uchaulia police staff rushed the spot for rescue operations.
“The cab driver might have dozed off and lost control over his speeding vehicle which led to the accident,” Anand said. Channappa said an inquiry into the causes of accident was on.
Police said the driver was among the dead.
The collision was so intense that nine people, including two women, were killed on the spot.
A one year-old-girl and a threemonth-old boy survived the acci- dent. While the girl was rushed to Shahjahanpur district hospital where she was united with her grandmother and uncle Fahim, who were among the four injured, the baby boy’s parents could not be traced.
The baby was handed to the custody of a local scribe.
The girl’s grandmother Sabrin said they were going to Sitapur for a wedding. Her son Fahim and her one-year-old granddaughter were with her in the cab. Fahim is also under treatment. She could not describe how the accident took place.
The accident has exposed once again the callous approach of taxi operators who overload their vehicles risking safety for monetary gain. There has been no visible effort by the transport department to deter taxi operators from overloading.
The vehicle involved in the accident had eight seats, including that of the driver, but it was carrying 18 people.
Channappa has ordered an inquiry into the accident. “A more stringent campaign to stop overloading of vehicles would be started soon and harshest action would be taken against the errant driver and owners,” he said.