KANPUR: Four members of a family, including a two-year-old child, were killed after their van veered off the road and plunged into a pond in Kanpur Dehat district on Friday evening, police said.
The Auraiya-based family was returning from a function at a relative's house in Kalyanpur when the accident took place near Savai village in Shivli, about 40 km from the district headquarters.
Eleven people were in the van when it fell. About half a dozen survived and are under treatment after being rescued from the pond by police. The driver has not been traced yet, they said.
According to officials, the vehicle went out of control and fell into a roadside pond, gradually sinking into deep water. The doors reportedly jammed, trapping passengers inside.
Locals, alerted by screams, rushed to the spot and informed the police.
A team led by Shivli Station House Officer Amarendra Kumar Singh launched a rescue operation. With the help of a JCB machine and local divers, the van was pulled out and its doors were forced open to rescue the occupants.
All the victims were taken to the Community Health Centre in Shivli, where doctors declared four persons brought dead. The injured were later referred to Lala Lajpat Rai Hospital for further treatment.
Rajkishore Agnihotri (60), his wife Snehlata Agnihotri (55), their daughter Himanshi Agnihotri (30), and his two-year-old grandson Shiv Agnihotri died in the accident.
Superintendent of Police Shraddha Narendra Pandey said the bodies have been sent for post-mortem and the cause of the accident is being investigated.
The driver, Rajkumar, remains untraceable and search operations are underway, she added.