Ten persons were killed in four separate road accidents in the past 24 hours in the state.
In the first major accident, seven persons were killed and two were severely injured in a road accident at Kanksa in Burdwan when a potato-laden truck collided head on with a Maruti van in the wee hours of Sunday. In the other incidents, two persons including a woman fell victim to a deadly race between auto-rickshaws in South 24 Parganas and Howrah while a 33-year-old motorcyclist was killed after being hit and dragged for a kilometre by a truck near Bhedia Aban Setu in Burdwan.
The head on collision between the potato-laden truck and the car that claimed seven lives took place on the Panagarh-Moregram State Highway. The victims were residents of Samudragarh in Burdwan and the accident took place when they were returning after attending a programme in Pathachapuri Mela in Birbhum. There were nine persons including the driver in the car. Police felt after preliminary investigation that both the vehicles were at a high speed and failed to control their vehicles suddenly finding themselves in front of each other on the two-way road.
After speaking to a tea-stall owner in the area, the police came to know that the Maruti van had attempted to overtake a truck. Without caring that another vehicle may approach from the opposite direction and may lead to an accident, the driver of the Maruti van accelerated the car to overtake the truck that was moving at a moderate speed. Since it is a two-way road, the ill-fated Maruti van had to cross the central line demarcating the road into two lanes for two-way movement of vehicles. As soon as it crossed the line to overtake the truck, a potato-laden truck approached from the opposite direction at a high speed. The situation was such that the driver of the truck had no option to avoid the head on collision. Police rushed to the spot after receiving the information about the accident. The car was damaged and the police had to cut a portion of the vehicle to bring out some of the victims.
All nine were taken to Durgapur Sub-Division Hospital where six were declared brought dead. Three were admitted with severe injuries. One of them later succumbed taking the death toll to seven. Two others are still fighting with their lives in the hospital.
Senior police officers visited the spot early on Sunday and took necessary steps to check such accidents that happen due to reckless driving.
In another accident at Canning in South 24 Parganas that took place on Sunday morning, two auto-rickshaws on the Basanti-Simultala Road were racing which led to the accident as one hit against a rickshaw van and three passengers including a woman in the auto-rickshaw fell on the road. The woman, Selima Bibi, died after receiving injuries on her head. Two others received injuries and were admitted to the hospital. The driver, somehow, remained unhurt and fled with the vehicle. In another similar accident at Uluberia in Howrah, a middle-aged man was killed when a speeding auto-rickshaw fell into a roadside ditch.
In yet another accident at Burdwan on Sunday morning, a truck hit a motorbike. Somehow, the rider got entangled to a hook in the rear of the truck. Without stopping, the truck dragged the victim, Siddheswar Mallick, for about a kilometre and it resulted in his death. Local people stopped the vehicle and helped the police to arrest the accused driver.