BARIPADA: Four persons including a woman were killed and three others sustained injuries when a truck rammed into pedestrians and later hit an auto-rickshaw on NH-220 under Rairangpur sub-division on Saturday.
The first incident occured when the truck struck three pedestrians who were on their morning walk at Badadalima chowk within Tiring police limits. The deceased was identified as Dharmapada Patabandha (45) and injured as Harishchandra Bhoi (74) and Rakhal Ghuni (16). They were rushed to Rairangpur sub-divisional hospital for treatment.
The truck driver sped away from the scene and collided head-on with an auto-rickshaw on the NH at Bagadega village within Bahalda police limits, around five km from the first accident. The deceased were Lakhan Soren (48) and his wife Pan Soren (35) and auto-rickshaw driver Dhanu Murmu of Bhagabandi village.
Sources said, the incident took place when the truck was travelling from Jharkhand’s Tatanagar to Keonjhar around 10 am. Reckless driving is suspected to be the cause of the accidents.
Locals intercepted the truck and detained one accused, while the other fled the scene. Police reached the spots and seized the truck and sent the bodies for autopsy.