PRAYAGRAJ: In a devastating accident, ten Mahakumbh devotees from Chhattisgarh lost their lives, and 19 others sustained injuries when a Bolero car collided with a bus on the Prayagraj-Mirzapur highway around Friday midnight.
The crash, which took place near the Meja police station in Prayagraj at approximately 2 am, was so intense that some victims were flung out of the vehicle, while others remained trapped inside the mangled car.
According to Vivek Chandra Yadav, DCP, Yamunanagar, the deceased devotees hailed from Korba district, Chhattisgarh. They had travelled to Prayagraj to take a holy dip at Sangam during the ongoing Mahakumbh. The bus involved in the tragedy was reportedly carrying pilgrims from Rajgarh, Madhya Pradesh.
Authorities believe the Bolero driver dozed off, leading to the fatal crash. “The Bolero was at a very high speed and rammed into the bus coming from the opposite direction despite the bus driver applying the brakes,” said DCP Yadav.
Senior officials, including Prayagraj Police Commissioner Tarun Gaba and District Magistrate Ravindra Kumar Mandhad, rushed to the site to oversee rescue operations. The impact of the collision was so severe that rescuers had to use gas cutters for over two hours to extricate those trapped inside the wrecked car.
All ten victims who lost their lives were men travelling in the Bolero. The injured were passengers aboard the bus and were taken to Swaroop Rani Nehru (SRN) Medical Hospital for treatment.
Expressing grief over the incident, President Droupadi Murmu said, “The news of the death of many people in a road accident on Mirzapur Highway in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, is extremely sad. I express my condolences to the families of the deceased. I wish for the speedy recovery of all those injured.”
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai also mourned the loss of devotees from Korba district.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath took cognisance of the tragedy and directed officials to expedite relief efforts. He also instructed authorities to ensure proper medical care for the injured.
The deceased were identified as Ishwari Jaiswal, Santosh Soni, Bhagirathi, Somnath, Ajai Banjare, Saurabh Soni, Ganga Das Verma, Shiva Rajput, Deepak Verma, and Raju Sahu.