Eleven persons died and 21 were injured when a truck ran over a group of pilgrims walking to Poornagiri shrine early on Friday morning. The group of about 250 persons from Bareily (Uttar Pradesh) was en route to the shrine in Champawat district when members of the group were mowed down by a truck in Tanakpur. Uttarakhand Governor Krishan Kant Paul, Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat and his Uttar Pradesh counterpart yogi Adityanath expressed grief at the mishap. The truck driver had escaped from the site and was missing till the time of this report being filed.
According to information received, truck number UK 06 CA 8746, was being driven from Sitarganj to Tanakpur to transport sand and gravel. It is being stated that another truck driver was competing with this truck to make more rounds transporting the goods. At about 5 AM when one of the trucks reached near the sales tax office, it ran over the group of pilgrims killing nine on the spot. The driver of the other truck stopped behind and drove back from the site. On receiving news about the mishap, the local police along with army jawans reached the site and transported the injured to the hospital. A total of 11 persons died and 21 were injured in the mishap. Eight seriously injured persons were shifted from Tanakpur to Khatima for treatment. The accident site presented a gory picture with blood on the road and body parts of the victims scattered around the site. The authorities arranged for roadways buses to send the ones with minor injuries and unhurt people back home.
Earlier, as the police, local officials and army men reached the accident site, the local residents also came to the site to assist in sending the injured to the hospital. The locals also came forward to console the shocked members of the group and arranged for food and water for them. At about 10 AM the authorities arranged for three roadways buses to take the remaining members of the group back home. Those killed in the mishap have been identified as Veer Singh (18), Sonu (16), Vishal (17), Ramkumar (16), Deendayal (35), Makhan lal (35), Kesar Singh (16), Ramswaroop (40), Sohan (40), Babu (12) and Kamal (20) all from Bareily.