At least eight labourers from Lakhimpur Kheri district were killed and 23 others injured after a speeding pickup van carrying them collided head-on with an incoming truck in Madhya Pradesh’s Bhind district early Tuesday, police said.
Five labourers died on the spot, while three others succumbed to their injuries while being taken to Gwalior for treatment. The accident took place near Chhimka village under Gohad Chauraha police station limits on the Bhind-Gwalior National Highway (NH-719) when the pickup driver allegedly tried to avoid cattle on the highway, police said. Kheri senior superintendent of police (SSP) Khyati Garg said eight people were killed and 23 injured in the accident.
Ram Naresh Yadav, in-charge of Gohad Chauraha police station, said police rushed to the spot after receiving information and rescued the victims. He said details of the casualties and injured were shared with Kheri police after it emerged that most of the victims belonged to the district. “The deceased were identified as Updesh, 22, Amar Singh, 20, Sukhdev, 50, Rajnish, 30, and Bhure Lal, 20, all from Bela Tursiya; Guddu, 59, of Kishanpur Ajit; Subhash, 30, of Harnaiya Narayanpur; and Madan Pal, 32, of Shahjahanpur district,” she said.
In Bela Tursiya, Kanchan Lal lost his sons Sukhdev and Rajnish, while his other sons Sompal and Ramakant and grandson Pinku alias Jay Karan were injured.
Arun Kumar, tehsildar Mohammadi, said he and other officials visited Bela Tursiya, Kishanpur Ajit and other villages to meet the grieving families and collect details. He said some family members had already left for Bhind and Gwalior after receiving information that the injured were undergoing treatment there. Livelihood trip ends in tragedy Maya Devi of Kishanpur Ajit, whose husband Guddu died in the accident while her son Ranjit and brother-in-law Ram Das were injured, said Guddu and Ranjit had gone to earn money as the marriage of her second daughter was to be finalised. She said her husband had called home a day earlier to say he would return with the money. Family members said they had travelled to Madhya Pradesh to earn money to complete their under-construction house and build a concrete roof.
