4 killed as car rams into truck in dense fog on NH-116 (B)

A devastating road accident claimed the lives of four persons at Marishda, East Midnapore early Friday morning.

Police said, a private car rammed into a heavy goods loaded truck and caused the accident on National Highway 116 (B), near Marishda.

National Highway 116B starts from Nandakumar, East Midnapore district in Bengal and ends at Chandaneswar, Balasore district in Orissa.

The highway is 91 km long. The road passes through Contai and Digha. Most of the vehicles including heavy trucks, buses and mini-trucks run in high speed on the stretch.

The police, however, said that it was difficult to drive down on the stretch early in the morning due 

to dense fog.

“It is really difficult to see through the fog and move ahead in morning. The private car rammed into the truck, which was standing at roadside. The driver, Shambhu Das and other passengers died 

on the spot. We could only ascertain the identity of the driver. The other three are still unidentified,” said a police officer.

Police learnt that the private car was coming from Shankarpur’s Dhora area. They took petrol from a local pump at Shankapur.

However, the investigators are still unaware about the destination where the private car was heading towards.

The car overturned on the side of the road and with four people trapped inside. The locals called up the police, who only found their bodies there. 

“We took those bodies to the hospital, where they were declared brought dead. Later, the bodies were taken for autopsy,” the officer said.

Accidents in NH-116 (B) are quite common. It should be recalled that recently, a bus overturned, injuring around 50 people when it was trying to overtake another vehicle. The incident took place in the same stretch just a few months ago.

District police reported the authority saying that two racing buses were approaching towards Nandakumar when one of them toppled on roadside causing severe injuries of 50 people.

However, the state government’s slogan ‘Safe Drive, Save Life’ has made the local residents inspire the police who are taking stringent actions against traffic rule breakers.

“Police are trying hard and the locals have helped them a lot. But these errant drivers were unruly. They should be punished,” said a local resident.