GORAKHPUR: Three persons were crushed to death by a speeding trailer in the Madanpur area of Uttar Pradesh's Deoria district on Friday, police said.
The incident took place in the morning on Rudrapur-Barhaj road near Baroan Chauraha, they said.
A trailer laden with boulders and travelling from Barhaj to Rudrapur hit cyclist Paras Pandey (50), lost control and crushed Sunil Madheshiya (45) and Gauri Gond (65), who were sitting around a bonfire, Superintendent of Police, Deoria, Sankalp Sharma said.
While Madheshiya and Gond died on the spot, Pandey died during treatment at a hospital, he said.
The driver of the vehicle, Mukesh Kumar, was also injured in the incident and is undergoing treatment at a hospital, Sharma said.
"Prima facie, it appears that the driver either dozed off or the vehicle went out of control," he said.
The bodies have been sent for postmortem, the SP said Eyewitnesses said the trailer after losing control crashed against a house, making a loud thud.
A large number of people gathered at the spot but the administration acted promptly, got the road cleared and restored traffic movement, Barhaj SDM Gajendra Singh said.