14 killed in road mishap in UP's Pratapgarh

A marriage ceremony at Shekhpur village of Nawabganj ended in mourning when on Thursday, the vehicle by which the guests were returning home after attending the marriage ceremony met with an accident resulting in the death of all the 14 persons. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath expressed grief over the road accident and also announced ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh to each of the families of the deceased.

Pratapgarh (Uttar Pradesh): In a gruesome incident, as many as 14 people were killed and few others injured when the vehicle they were travelling in collided with a parked truck at Desraj Inara village under of Manikpur police limits in Uttar Pradesh's Pratapgarh late on Thursday night.

The deceased persons have been identified as Parasnath (40), Bablu (22), Abhimanyu (28), Ramsamujh (40), Nan Bhaiya (55), Dayaram (40), Dinesh (40), Pavan (10), Aman (7), Ansh (9), Gaurav (10), Sachin (12) and Himanshu (12).

According to sources, all victims were returning home to their village in Kunda in the district after attending a wedding in Nawabganj.

Suddenly, the drive lost his control over the wheels and the SUV collided with a parked truck near Prayagraj-Lucknow highway.

Following this, passengers trapped in the SUV were taken out by the locals and moved to the community health centre (CHC) in Kunda where the 14 of them were pronounced dead.

On being informed about the incident, police rushed to the spot and recovered the mangled vehicle and started the investigation into the incident.

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.

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.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has expressed shock over the accident and has announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh to each of the families of the dead.

The district magistrate Rupesh Kumar has also announced to give Rs 2 lakh to each of the families of the deceased. The bodies of the deceased would be sent to their respective village after the post mortem.

Former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav too has expressed grief and conveyed his condolence in a tweet.