8 children die in vehicle collision in UP; 15 hurt

Hapur (UP): Nine persons, including eight children, were killed and 15 others were injured when a pickup van collided with a mini truck in Uttar Pradesh's Hapur district, police said on Monday.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath expressed grief over the incident and directed officials to provide all possible help and treatment to the injured.

The accident took place around 11 pm on Sunday near Sadikpur village under Hafizpur police station limits. The victims were returning to their village Salepur Kotla in the pickup van after attending a marriage on Bulandshahr road, they said.

The mini truck coming from the opposite direction collided with the van which was carrying 20 children. The impact of the accident was so severe that the van was torn apart and its occupants were thrown out on the highway, police said. The truck driver fled the spot after the incident, they said.

The injured were rushed to a hospital where doctors declared nine people, including eight children, dead, police said.

The 15 injured are undergoing treatment, they said. Six of the deceased children have been identified as Aksha, Sufiyan, Anas, Gayyur, Shifa and Abdul Rehman, they said. Police said the children were in the age group of 8 to 14 years, while the other deceased is a 20-year-old man. The bodies, after postmortem, were sent to Salepur Kotla village.