12 killed as truck falls into gorge in UP

Lucknow/Etawah: Twelve people were killed and 45 injured as a truck on which they were travelling fell into a 30-foot-deep gorge in UP's Etawah district on Saturday evening, police said.

They all were going to a temple in the district when the accident took place on the Udi-Chakar Nagar road. "The incident took place in the Barhpura police station area after the driver of the vehicle lost control over it," Additional Superintendent of Police (City) Prashant Kumar Prasad said.

Etawah Chief Medical Officer N S Tomar told reporters that of the 12 dead, 10 died on the spot.

While two others, including a woman, succumbed to their injuries at the hospital, he said.

All deceased are from Agra district. Apart from this, 13 seriously injured people have been shifted to the PGI, Saifai, for treatment. Thirty-two injured people are undergoing treatment at the district hospital," Tomar added.

Meanwhile, Etawah SSP Brijesh Kumar Singh said the accident took place around 4 pm.

"The truck was going from Agra to a Kalika Devi temple located in the Lakhna area of Etawah to offer a flag when the driver of the truck lost control over it and it fell into a 30-foot-deep gorge," Singh said, adding that 10 people died on the spot.

He said the injured included 13 women and an equal number of children.

Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath expressed grief over the loss of lives in the accident.

He instructed officials to pay a financial assistance of Rs 2 lakh to the kin of each dead, the UP government said in a statement in Lucknow.