Victims share their harrowing tale after safe return

Victims share their harrowing tale after safe return

- Sudhir Kumar

VARANASI: Two people were killed, and nine others were injured when five vehicles collided one after the other on Murdhwa-Bijpur road under Pipri police station area of Sonbhadra district on Wednesday, police said.

The deceased have been identified as truck driver Naresh and bike rider Manjeet. The injured have been admitted to Hindalco Hospital where they are undergoing treatment, police said. After the accident, traffic on the main road was affected for hours.

Reportedly, the brakes of a truck carrying iron plates from Raipur in Chhattisgarh to Ghaziabad failed near Rantola on Wednesday morning. The uncontrolled truck hit a Bolero on the slope which in turn collided with a tree. Six people on board the Bolero were injured in the accident.

Meanwhile, the truck also hit a stationary container which further collided with a tree and hit a bike rider who fell into a ditch on the roadside.

The container also collided with a tanker passing by. Thereafter, the truck stopped with a jerk and the iron plates crashed into the cabin killing the driver on the spot. The driver Naresh (40), a resident of Salempur in Malavan police station area of Etah district, died.

In this accident, the driver of the container, Surjan Singh, a resident of Saket in Etah, the cleaner Rinku, bike rider Kamlesh, and Manjeet, both residents of Katauli in Duddhi, also got injured. Rahul, a resident of Kirbil, his brother Ajay, wife Sapna Gupta, Ajay's wife Nisha, his son Harsh and nephew Ayansh, who were travelling by Bolero, were also injured. All of them were going from Kirbil to Dala Vaishno temple for darshan.

VARANASI: What started as a hopeful journey for nine men from Azamgarh and Mau, lured by promises of high-paying security jobs in Russia, has turned into a harrowing ordeal. Trapped in Russia since early this year, eight remain untraceable, while one lost his life fighting in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.