Five killed, three injured after truck rams into tea stall

Police said like all other days around 10 to 12 people were sitting in the tea stall when the accident took place.

The offending truck that was heading towards Malda from Raigunj lost control and rammed into the tea stall.

Amar Ghosh, a local resident, who witnessed the incident, said that the truck was overloaded and was at a high speed. It seems that the driver of the speeding vehicle had failed to control the truck after a front wheel had bust.

The helper was heard shouting asking people to move away. It hit a mini-truck, which was parked on the side of a road, and rammed into the tea stall killing three.

People rushed to the spot and initiated the rescue work. A large contingent of police and a fire tender was pressed into service to undertake the rescue operation.

The driver and the helper of the truck had managed to flee.

Later, a crane was deployed to bring the truck out of the tea stall and all five were extricated out of the roof of the tea stall only after the truck was removed.

Around ten people were taken to Raiganj district hospital. Five were declared brought dead, two were treated and discharged while rest three people were fighting for their lives in the hospital.

Three of the victims were identified as Safiruddin Ahmed, Taheruddin Ahmed and Najimuddin Ahmed. The two others are yet to be identified.

Three of them, those were being identified, were local residents. But the two others seem to be from some other districts and came to Itahar for some work. Police are taking steps for their identification.