Two teenage girls were killed and six others injured when a speeding truck hit a group of devotees returning on foot from Maa Netula Temple in Bihar’s Jamui district early Tuesday morning, prompting villagers to block the Sikandra-Nawada main road and demand stronger safety measures.
The crash took place at around 4:30am near the Dharsanda turn, when eight to nine girls and children were walking home after offering prayers at the temple in Kumar village during Durga Puja. The truck was travelling from Nawada towards Sikandra when it struck the group. The driver fled with the vehicle after the collision.
The two deceased were identified as Sulekha Kumari, 13, daughter of Manoj Yadav, and Anshu Kumari, 16, daughter of Sankendra Yadav. Both were residents of Panchmahua village under the Sikandra police station area. Sulekha was a Class VII student and Anshu studied in Class IX.
Four girls and two boys were injured in the accident and taken to a hospital for treatment. The victims were part of a group returning from the temple, where residents said large numbers of devotees arrive during the festival, often travelling along the main road during the early morning hours.
The deaths led to anger in Panchmahua village. Villagers placed the bodies at Sikandra main chowk and blocked the road for nearly two hours, bringing traffic to a standstill. Police from Sikandra police station reached the site and attempted to calm the protesters. Jamui superintendent of police Vishwajeet Dayal also arrived with police personnel.
The blockade was later cleared, and the bodies were sent to a government hospital for postmortem. The police are trying to identify and locate the truck and its driver. “Efforts are underway to trace the truck and its driver,” Dayal said, according to the report.
Residents have called for increased police patrolling and tighter control of heavy-vehicle speeds during the early morning period. Their concerns focus on the regular movement of pedestrians along the Sikandra-Nawada road during temple visits, particularly during festival periods when visitor numbers rise.
The crash has brought attention to the safety gap between religious foot traffic and heavy vehicles on roads that also function as inter-district transport routes. The immediate police action remains focused on tracing the truck and completing the postmortem process.
