BHUBANESWAR/JEYPORE: A trip to attend the Dasaha (mourning rituals) of a deceased kin ended tragically for a group of 30 persons of Chhattisgarh when the pickup van they were travelling in hit a roadside tree and overturned, killing nine and injuring 11 near Murtahandi village in Koraput district’s Kotpad police limits on Sunday evening.
Initial investigation suggested all the passengers are from Chhattisgarh. At least seven were killed on the spot and two others succumbed at Kotpad community health centre, South Western Range DIG, Rajesh Pandit said. All the 11 injured persons have been shifted to Jagdalpur.
The accident took place on the National Highway at about 8.45 pm. The driver of the ill-fated vehicle managed to flee after the incident. The pickup van, with a Chhattisgarh registration number, was carrying around 30 passengers which may have led to the casualties, police said. “Prima facie, it appears the pickup van overturned just ahead of the railway tracks. There were close to 30 passengers inside the vehicle,” said an officer of the Odisha Fire Service.
Fire Service personnel rushed to the accident site. Two teams from Kotpad and Borigumma fire stations are engaged in the rescue operations. The accident site had very little illumination available making it difficult for rescue and relief operations. Sources said the passengers had come from Nagarnar in Bastar district to attend the death rituals of one of their relatives at Murtahandi in Koraput.