In an unfortunate incident, a person who reached an accident site to witness the mishap, died on the spot near lahunipara of Sundargarh district on Sunday afternoon.
Sources said on Sunday at about 2.30 pm, a diesel laden tanker was on its way over SH 10 (a) from Kaleiposh to Bahadaposi area. The driver of the tanker suddenly noticed fire on the rear tyre and the passersby also informed him about the fire. Since the tanker had been loaded with diesel, the driver suspecting explosion on the impact of fire used his presence of mind and stopped the vehicle. With the help of the helper of the truck, he quickly installed the jack and started opening both the rear tyres which had caught fire.
In the mean time, the locals had come to know about this and about 100 locals gathered on the spot with curiosity to see the fate of the tanker. The driver of the tanker however warned all the persons present there to maintain distance from the vehicle as it was susceptible to blast. The driver however was successful in opening both the tyres quickly and then rolled it down to road side area. The driver and helper of the truck were obviously relaxed after successfully separating the fire burned tyres from the diesel loaded tanker and both also maintained distance from the fire burned tyres.
However, suddenly an explosion occurred in one of the tyres as a result of which the wheel of the tire soared about twelve feet high and fell on the head of an onlooker, who died on the spot. He was identified as Dayanidhi Patra (45). PNS