Five people were killed early Friday after a poultry-laden pickup van crashed into a sand-laden truck parked on NH12 at Bhiti in the Raiganj police station area of North Dinajpur district, police said. The collision occurred around 4am, according to local residents, and left the pickup van badly mangled.
The truck was travelling towards Malda when it stopped by the roadside after running out of fuel. Its driver, Ahad Sheikh, told police that he had taken a drum to a nearby petrol pump and returned to find that the crash had taken place. The circumstances surrounding the truck’s position on the highway are part of the police inquiry.
Residents were alerted by the sound of the collision and began rescue efforts before a police team reached the spot. Four people were found dead inside the pickup van. A fifth person, who was critically injured, was taken to Raiganj Government Medical College & Hospital but died soon after admission.
The deceased have been identified as Sohel Akhtar, 45, Shayen Akhtar, 16, Ramzan Momin, 25, Hasrat Ali, 16, and Mohammad Mustafa, 18. All five were from different localities in the Kaliachak police station area. The bodies have been sent for post-mortem examination, and police have seized both vehicles.
The crash was one of two serious road accidents reported in Malda and North Dinajpur since Thursday night. In Malda, a person died and nine others, including three police personnel, were injured when an e-rickshaw collided head-on with a police patrol van near the entrance to Gazole railway station at Karallabhita More.
According to witnesses, the patrol van from Gazole police station was travelling towards Deotala while a family from Babupur was taking the e-rickshaw to the station to catch a train to Howrah. The vehicles collided near the station’s main gate. Bystanders and police personnel rescued those injured and took them to the state general hospital in Gazole. One passenger, 41-year-old Jarjis Alam of Babupur, was declared dead by doctors. The other injured people were later referred to Malda Medical College & Hospital.
Police have registered a case in the Gazole crash and said an investigation was under way. In the NH12 collision, the seized vehicles and post-mortem examination are among the immediate steps in the investigation.
