PAIKMAL (BARGARH):Six persons were killed and eight others, including four children, injured when an MUV collided head-on with a private bus near Tarini temple at Ranjitpur on Paikmal-Padmapur road under Paikmal police limits on Thursday.
The deceased are ASHA volunteers Shakuntala Seth (45) and Jayanti Bhoi (25), driver and owner of the MUV Nirmal Khuntia (32), Hari Singh Bachha (32) and his wife Kasturi (29) and Heme Ketaki (50). All of them died on the spot.
Following the mishap, villagers blocked the road for around two hours and set the bus afire. Fire fighters rushed to the spot and brought the fire under control.
The injured are Narahari Ketaki (27), his wife Kaushalya (25) and the couple's one-year-old son Chaitanya besides, Santosh Bag (32), his wife Pushpalata (30) and the couple's sons - Rajiv (3) and Sanjib (1). Santosh's third son - three-year-old Bablu - who was also in the MUV, escaped unhurt.
All the injured were rushed to Paikmal Community Health Centre and later shifted to Padampur Sub-divisional Hospital. In the noon, Narahari, Kaushalya and Santosh were referred to VIMSAR at Burla as their condition turned critical.
According to reports, eight residents of Makhnamunda village of Paikmal block, three members of a family from Chindeikela village along with the ASHA volunteers of both the villages and another person were on their way to Padampur Sub-divisional Hospital for family planning operation, in the MUV. At 10 am, the MUV hit a private bus, which was on way to Nuapada from Sambalpur, at a road curve.
Both the vehicles were speeding and six inmates of the MUV were killed on the spot. None of the passengers in the bus were injured, though.
Padmapur SDPO, Prakash Patra said a case has been registered and the bodies sent for post-mortem. Driver of the private bus managed to escape from the spot.