12 of religious procession mowed down by truck in Bihar; PM condoles deaths

At least 12 people, who were part of a religious procession, were killed after a speeding truck mowed them down in Mehnar village in Bihar’s Vaishali district on Sunday evening.

The driver of the truck has been rescued from the mangled remains of the vehicle and arrested, Vaishali SP Manish Kumar said.

The driver was admitted to Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) and efforts were underway to ascertain his identity, he said, adding his condition is stable.

According to police, the incident took place at around 9 pm near the Desri police station area and around 30 km away from Patna, when people had gathered in front of a peepal tree on the roadside to worship ‘Bhumiya baba,’ a local deity.

Police said, the villagers were reportedly engaged in rituals for a forthcoming wedding when the truck speeding through the nearby Mahnar-Hajipur highway lost control and rammed into them. The deceased reportedly included four children.

“The procession was taken as part of a custom associated with marriages. A wedding was scheduled in a few days at the house of a local resident of Sultanpur village nearby. The driver of the truck speeding through the adjacent Mahnar-Hajipur highway lost control. He is stuck inside the mangled vehicle and we fear that he might have died,” Vaishali SP Manish Kumar said.

Mukesh Roushan, RJD MLA from Mahua under whose constituency the area falls rushed to the spot to take stock of the situation. Roushan told reporters that nine of the 12 people had died at the spot while the other three succumbed to injuries on the way to the Sadar hospital in Hajipur. He said patients whose condition is critical are being referred to hospitals in Patna.

The deceased were identified as Varsha (8), Suruchi (12), Anuskha (8), Shivani (8), Khushi (10), Chandan Kumar (20), Komal Kumari (10) and Satish Kumar (17).

While many of the families have criticised the police for reaching late, the SP has said that rescue work has been sped up and personnel have been summoned from nearby police stations to keep law and order situation under control in the area.

Condoling the deaths, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday announced an ex-gratia of ₹2 lakh from the PNNRF for the next of the kin of the deceased and ₹50,000 for the injured.

Expressing grief over the incident, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar also announced a compensation of ₹5 lakh for the families of the deceased.