4 dead, many injured after vehicles collide near Kharagpur

A road accident at Kharagpur claimed the lives of four persons while injuring several others late on Thursday night.

The police learnt that a truck suddenly stopped on the middle of National Highway-6 after one of its tyres burst. A pick-up van which was coming from behind could not check its speed and rammed into the truck which was standing still on the highway.

Then, a private car, which was following the pick-up van, hit the rear portion of it.

"Four persons including the driver inside the private car were declared brought dead at the Kharagpur Sub Divisional Hospital. Some of the injured were taken to the Midnapore Medical College and Hospital," said a police officer.

"The deceased were residents of East Midnapore and they were returning home after attending a marriage ceremony at Jhargram," the officer added.

Drivers of vehicles passing by called up the local police to inform about the incident. "We took the victims to the hospitals. It was a tough job to rescue the ones trapped inside the vehicles," a police officer said.

Meanwhile, in another incident, three persons, including two women were injured after two cars collided face-to-face on the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass early on Friday. Police took the injured to Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College and Hospital but later two of them were shifted to a private hospital.

"An app-based cab hit a private car near Chingrihata. The collision was such that most parts of the cab were damaged. We admitted the injured persons to Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College and Hospital in a critical condition," a police officer said.

It may be mentioned that a special road safety week was observed across the state to check road accidents by creating awareness among more people. The campaign came after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee instructed the Kolkata Police and West Bengal Police to spread awareness among the people about road safety.

It was decided to organise the road safety week in each and every block of the state. Initiatives were taken so that maximum number of people can be made aware of the road safety norms. It will also be recalled that the Chief Minister had launched a state-wide awareness campaign 'Safe Drive, Save Live' to check road accidents that had claimed many lives.