CUTTACK: An auto-rickshaw driver was killed while over 15 others, including women and children, sustained injuries after a government bus collided head-on with the vehicle on Cuttack-Paradip road near Bidyadharpur within CRRI police limits on Sunday.
The deceased was identified as Tanmay Rout of Tarapur. The bus operating under Mukhyamantri Bus Seva scheme was carrying passengers from Kishan Nagar to Cuttack while the auto-rickshaw with two persons in it was going to Jagatsinghpur when the mishap occurred.
Eyewitnesses said some cattle suddenly appeared in front of the bus following which the driver, in a bid to save the animals, steered to the right side, colliding head-on with the auto-rickshaw which was coming from the opposite direction.
The bus dragged the auto-rickshaw a few metres and came to a halt only after crashing into a roadside electric pole. Locals rushed the injured to SCB Medical College and Hospital where Rout succumbed during treatment.
On being informed, police rushed to the spot and launched an investigation besides seizing the two vehicles.