11 Killed, 30 Injured In Two Separate Road Mishaps In Odisha

At least 11 persons were killed and more than 30 injured in two separate road mishaps in Odisha on Saturday after a coal-laden truck hit a bus from its rear while a SUV carrying members of a bridegroom’s party rammed into a truck.

In the first incident, six persons including a one-year-old girl and her parents were killed when the bus they were travelling from Manitri in Mayurbhanj district to Bhubaneswar was hit by a coal-laden truck on National Highway 16 at Soro on Saturday afternoon. The bus, ‘Shantilata’, was on its way to Bhubaneswar from Udala. At 1.10 pm, it stopped near Bidu Chhak on NH-16 to board passengers when a coal truck rammed it from behind. The impact was so severe, both the bus and the truck fell off the road and landed in a ditch by the highway.

“While three persons died on the spot, three others died while undergoing treatment. Health conditions of six others are stated to be critical,” said Dilip Choudhury, owner of the bus. At least a dozen more passengers in the bus were injured while the driver and helper of the truck are said to be critical.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik announced compensation of ₹2 lakh each to the kin of the deceased. He also directed officials to ensure that the injured get the best medical treatment.

Earlier in the day, five of a bridegroom’s party including a father-daughter duo were killed and five others seriously injured when the SUV they were travelling back to their home collided head on with a truck on a bridge over Mahanadi River in Sonepur district late Friday night.

Sonepur SP Sitaram Satpathy said 10 people from Nimna and Panchmahala village under Ullunda block of Sonepur district were returning after attending a marriage function at Kaudiamunda village when the Bolero jeep they were in ran into the truck over the Mahanadi bridge at around 1 am. Ashish Pandia and his daughter Siddhi Pandia were killed on the spot along with Pramod Pandia, Trayambak Meher and Subham Pandia.

Five others were rescued from the badly mangled vehicle by police and other rescue teams with the help of gas cutters.

Fatalities rate in road accidents in Odisha is 33.33% higher than the national average. While 48 die in every 100 road accidents in Odisha, the national average is 36. There has been steady increase in number of fatalities from 2014 (3,931) to 2020(4,738), an increase of about 21%.

As per State Road Safety Council officials, over-speeding contributed to 69 per cent of the deaths followed by violation of helmet law (41 per cent) and hit and run cases (20 per cent). The SC has recently pulled up the State government for not adopting a focused approach for preventing fatalities by enforcing stringent measures.