BHUBANESWAR: Three persons were killed after a head-on collision between a speeding truck and an auto-rickshaw late on Thursday night at Jamdhar in Kendrapada district, around 80km from here. The auto rickshaw was badly damaged after the accident. Police have started an investigation into the matter.
Sources said the truck coming from Kendrapada side hit the auto-rickshaw coming from opposite side. Because of the head-on collision, the auto-rickshaw driver along with his two friends inside the vehicle died.
Though the locals and police took them to a nearby hospital at Kendrapada for treatment, they were declared brought dead. Two persons inside the auto-rickshaw died on the spot. The third person died on the way to hospital.
The driver was identified as Hemant Sundaray from Bhubaneswar. The two passengers were Asish Beura from Aul and Rajendra Bal of Rajnagar area in Kendrapada district. They were returning from Bhubaneswar.
The incident happened at around 11.55pm on Thursday. Locals immediately reached the spot and informed the police about the accident. They brought out the persons stuck in badly damaged auto-rickshaw. Police also tried very hard to bring them out from the vehicle.
“As there is a curve near the accident spot, sometimes drivers cannot get a proper view of the vehicles coming from the opposite side. The fog condition on Thursday night made the situation worse,” said a local.
Similar accident had occurred at that spot a few months ago. Locals demanded the district administration to declare the accident site a black spot and take necessary action to stop such incidents in future.
Pabitra Mohan Moharana, inspector-in-charge of Kendrapada Sadar police station, said the truck driver fled from the spot after hitting the auto-rickshaw. “We have sent the bodies for post-mortem. We are investigating the matter,” he added.
