Six killed, one seriously injured as matador rams into auto on NH 60
Kolkata: Six people were killed and a woman was seriously injured in a road accident in which a matador collided head-on with an auto-rickshaw on National Highway 60 at Mallarpur in Birbhum on Sunday evening.
Police came to know after speaking with some people who witnessed the incident that the auto-rickshaw was packed with around six passengers. There was a head-on collision and most of the passengers in the auto-rickshaw died on the spot.
Though the police are yet to identify the victims, they feel that they were residents of a local village. The police feel after preliminary investigation that the accident took place when they were heading towards their village in the auto-rickshaw.
It may be mentioned that plying of auto-rickshaws is restricted on national highways. The auto-rickshaw driver had flouted the traffic norm and took the national highway to reach his destination.
Though the police are yet to ascertain the exact reason behind the accident as it took place in a desolate area, police suspect that the driver of the matador failed to control the vehicle when the auto-rickshaw approached from the opposite direction all of a sudden.
The matador was also moving at a high speed. So its driver had failed to stop the vehicle despite applying brakes. The auto-rickshaw was completely wrecked and an electric cutter was used to cut a portion of the vehicle to bring out the passengers.
Local people went to the spot after the driver of a passing by truck informed them about the incident.
They went to the spot and initiated the rescue work.
The police were also infor-
med and they rushed to the spot and joined the local people in carrying out the rescue
work.
All the seven passengers were taken to a local hospital where they were declared brought dead. Senior police officers went to the spot and a probe has been initiated.
The police are trying to find out how the auto-rickshaw had managed to ply on the national highway when there is restriction on the same.
A senior police officer said that steps would be taken so that auto-rickshaw drivers follow the traffic norms.
