At least seven persons were crushed to death and 12 others injured, some of them critically, when an uncontrolled car crashed into a religious function organised by the roadside at Gauribazar area of Deoria late on Monday night.
As per reports, residents of Pananha hamlet of Gauri Bazar were enjoying a `nautanki’ organised during a religious function on Monday night. While the audience was engrossed in the proceedings on the stage, a speeding Ertiga car (UP53BY-8017) ploughed into the crowd before slowing down at a nearby field. The dirver actually lost control over the speeding vehicle resulting in the tragedy. Finding that several persons were killed and injured in the mishap, the driver abandoned the vehicle and escaped from the scene.
The injured were immediately rushed to District Hospital where doctors pronounced seven of them dead upon arrival while the condition of over a dozen was stated to be critical.
The deceased were identified as Dinesh Yadav (35), Paras (65), Kaushalya (46), Vibhuiti ( 60), Susheela (45), Sohan Kanu (66) and Chedhi (42) while one of the victims could not to be identified.
The injured included Rishi Kumar Maurya (30), Sonu Maurya (18), Shobhnath (09), Savitri (35), Akhilesh (18), Chandra Bhan (55), Anirudh, Ram lakhan, Suryabhan, Bhagwan Vaidh, Om Prakash and three others.
Nine of the injured have been referred to Gorakhpur Medical College. The police claimed to have detained two occupants of the car and several liquor bottles were recovered from it.
The deadly mishap sparked off widespread rage and irate villagers blocked the Rudrapur- Gorakhpur highway demanding compensation to the family members of the victims and prompt action against the guilty. later senior officials rushed to the spot and defused the situation after assuring to take up the matter with the government.
Meanwhile three more persons were killed in two separate mishaps across the state.
In Ballia, two persons were killed and three injured when the SUV they were travelling in, hit a tree near lakshmanpur village in Narhi on Tuesday morning. Ghura Gond (40) and Sanjit Kumar (18) were killed on the spot while three others were injured. The injured were hospitalised where their condition was stated to be stable.
Meanhwile in Sant Kabir Nagar, truck driver Sonu (39) died on the spot and two others were injured when a truck rammed into another stationary truck parked by teh roadside in Khalilabad. The injured were rushed to a nearby hospital, where their condition was said to be stable.