PATNA: At least seven persons were killed and five others seriously injured when an SUV carrying them hit a stationary oil container from behind on National Highway-2 in Bihar's Rohtas district early on Wednesday.
The injured have been rushed to a private medical college and hospital where the condition of the two is stated to be critical. The mishap took place when 12 members of a family were returning home in the ill-fated SUV from Bodh Gaya.
The deceased have been identified as Arvind Sharma (50), Rajmati Devi (45), Chandani Kumari (15), Tara Kumari (18), Aditya Kumar (8), Riya Kumari (9) and Sony Kumari (35).
Those undergoing treatment in the hospital have been identified as Ravi Nandan Priyadarshi (30), Ritu Sharma (14), Sudeshwar Sharma (60), Divya Kumari (25) and Upendra Sharma (30).
The victims told the police that the SUV in which they were travelling hit a stationary oil tanker near Pakhnari village under Shivsagar police station in Rohtas district. They were returning to their native village Kudari in the Kaimur district from Bodh Gaya.
The traffic on the NH-2 remained disrupted for over five hours due to the mishap. A group of local residents demanded adequate compensation to the deceased's family and immediate arrest of the driver of the container, who had parked his vehicle on the road.
The driver of the oil container managed to escape after the accident. “It is often seen that truck drivers park their vehicles on the road at night and take a rest at nearby roadside restaurants. The drivers of vehicles running at high speed find it difficult to control their vehicles after spotting the trucks suddenly on the road,” the owner of a roadside 'dhaba' said.