6-yr-old dead, 3 injured after trailer rams into pavement

A six-year-old boy was killed and three injured when a trailer ran them over on a pavement near Fancy Market in Kolkata Port area in the wee hours on Tuesday.

The incident led to tension in the area as locals blocked the road in protest against the incident that led to huge traffic congestion.

A police officer said the accident happened after the trailer suddenly lost control and went over the pavement at around 2 am on Tuesday where, like any other day, few people were sleeping.

The police also came to know from locals that the trailer, bearing registration number of Nagaland, was loaded with heavy minerals and was coming out of the port area. The driver lost control over the vehicle on Circular Garden Reach Road and went on to the pavement.

The trailer stopped only after mowing down a portion of the railings on the pavement and hitting a light post. Hearing the cries of the victims, locals rushed to the spot and took the four injured persons, including the six-year-old boy Md Sahil, to a private hospital at Ekbalpore. Sahil was declared brought dead and three others were given necessary treatment.

Soon after the news of Sahil's death spread in the locality, hundreds staged a demonstration protesting against the accident that claimed the life of the six-year-old boy.

Cops went to the spot and the demonstration was withdrawn after senior police officers intervened and assured necessary steps to avoid such accidents in the area.

Dara Prasad, the driver of the offending trailer, was caught by the locals and was later handed over to the police. The vehicle has also been seized.

A police officer said it had not become possible yet to ascertain the exact reason behind the road accident but it seems that a certain snag had developed in the trailer for which the driver had failed to control the vehicle or it was plying at a reckless speed. The police have, however, ruled out the possibility of the driver falling asleep.

Footages of surveillance cameras in the area are being scanned to ascertain the exact reason behind the accident.

It may be mentioned that parking of trailers and heavy vehicles along major thoroughfares in the port area had been a major problem. Steps have already been taken to check the menace.

In another road accident, a 55-year-old man, identified as Dilip Bauri, was killed after being hit by a pickup van on National Highway 2 at Jamuria in Asansol on Monday morning. The victim was an agriculture worker and local people put up a road block for around two hours on the national highway protesting against the accident.