ROURKELA: A 20-year-old truck driver was charred to death while another driver sustained critical injuries after two trucks collided head-on and both the vehicles caught fire at Gopalpur under Hemgir police limits on the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday.
The deceased was identified as Manish Kumar. Condition of the other truck driver is critical and he is under treatment at the Sundargarh district headquarters hospital in Sundargarh town.
The incident occurred at around 2 am at Gopalpur, around 140 km from Rourkela. Hemgir IIC Manoranjan Bisi said following the collision, both the trucks got stuck to each other and eventually one went up in flames. Kumar, who was inside the burning truck, got trapped inside the vehicle and was charred to death.
“The fire later spread to the other vehicle but the other truck driver was rescued just in time. He has been admitted to the Sundargarh DHH,” Bisi said.
Sources said fire services personnel managed to extinguish the flames but by that time, both the trucks had been reduced to ashes.
An unnatural death case was registered and the deceased’s body preserved for postmortem, Bisi added.