Fourteen people, including six children, of a wedding party were killed and few others injured when the vehicle they were travelling in collided with a parked truck in Pratapgarh district of Uttar Pradesh late on Thursday night, officials said. The accident took place at a spot on the Prayagraj-Lucknow highway under Manikpur police station of the district, police said.
UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath has expressed grief over the road accident and directed senior officials to reach the spot and provide all possible assistance.
Anurag Arya, Pratapgarh’s superintendent of police, said the primary investigation suggested that the accident took place when the SUV driver failed to spot the stationary truck and collided with it from behind on the highway near Deshraj Ka Inara village. Passengers trapped in the SUV were taken out and moved to the community health centre (CHC) in Kunda where the 14 of them were declared dead on arrival. The dead included women and children, Arya added.
The dead have been identified as Dinesh Kumar (40), Pawan Kumar (10), Dayaram (40), Aman (7), Ramsamujh (40), Ansh (9), Gaurav Kumar (10), Naan Bhaiya (55), Sachin (12), Himanshu (12), Mithilesh Kumar (17), Abhimanyu (28), Parasnath (40) and the driver of the Bolero Bablu (22).
Twelve of the deceased are from Jigrapur village while two along with driver are from another village, police added. They had gone to attend a wedding at Shekhpur village in Nawabganj area and were coming back when the accident took place.
Locals said the SUV was badly damaged in the collision and police faced difficulties in rescue operation due to darkness. The incident caused grief in the village of the deceased and a large number of their relatives and other villagers assembled at the Kunda community health centre.