BERHAMPUR/BHAWANIPATNA: Two persons were killed and seven others suffered injuries in separate mishaps in Ganjam and Kalahandi districts on Tuesday.
In Ganjam, one Ramnath Paraja (52) of Koraput died after an auto-rickshaw was hit by a truck on the Digapahandi-Aska road at Rajapur Chowk. Sources said in the morning, a group of labourers from Boipariguda in Koraput arrived at Digapahandi to work in a brick kiln near Pattapur village. Five members of the group including Paraja hired an auto-rickshaw to go to their workplace.
On way, a truck loaded with plastic pipes rammed into their three-wheeler. All the five passengers including two women and the driver suffered grievous injuries and were rushed to Digapahandi Community Health Centre (CHC) by locals.
They were later shifted to MKCG Medical College and Hospital in Berhampur where Paraja succumbed. Hospital sources said the condition of five injured persons is critical.
Digapahandi police seized both the vehicles involved in the accident and launched an investigation into the incident.
Similarly, a worker from Maharashtra was killed and his two son sustained injuries after soil caved in at Sandol barrage gate construction site near Doda village within M Rampur police limits. Police identified the deceased as Dnyanba Vithoba Kusalkar (55) of Buldhana district in Maharashtra.
Sources said Kusalkar and his two sons were engaged in fixing the gate of Sandol barrage when soil caved in suddenly. All of them were trapped under the debris. While Kusalkar was buried alive, coworkers rescued his sons and rushed them to M Rampur CHC. Later, police recovered Kusalkar’s body and sent it for postmortem. An investigation has been launched into the incident.