DHENKANAL: In an incident that would put humanity to shame, bystanders looted a soft drinks carrying van that met with an accident in Dhenkanal on Wednesday ignoring its injured driver and helper trapped in the wrecked vehicle.
The shocking incident took place at Siarimalia Chowk near Kamakhyanagar at around noon. Sources said a pickup van laden with cold drinks was on its way to Talcher from the Jajpur district. When it reached Siaraimalia Chowk, the driver lost control and the van overturned on the road.
Onlookers and bystanders wasted no time in taking advantage of the accident. Instead of coming to the rescue of the injured driver and helper, they rushed to the spot and filled their boots with soft drink bottles that were strewn across the road after the mishap. People were also seen taking boxes of beverage bottles from the wrecked van.
Though the injured driver and his associate screamed and pleaded for help, they were completely snubbed by the looters who were more keen to pillage the van than rescue them. After around 30 minutes, residents of the nearby village rushed to the accident site on hearing the commotion and rescued the injured duo from the van. They were sent to the hospital at Talcher in another vehicle.
Kamakhyanagar IIC Sarat Mahallick said on being informed about the accident, police rushed to Siarimalia and helped the villagers in rescuing the injured persons. So far, no complaint has been filed in the police station regarding the loot of cold drinks from the van.
Following the incident, local residents questioned the moral standards of the people who were involved in looting beverage bottles from the wrecked van.