Road accident in UP's Pratapgarh kills 14, including 6 children

A tragic road accident resulted in the death of 14 persons, including six children, in Uttar Pradesh’s Pratapgarh district late on Thursday night after the vehicle they were travelling in rammed a truck on the Prayagraj-Lucknow highway.

The incident occurred at 11:45 PM on Thursday near Deshraj Inara village under the limits of Manikpur police station. All occupants of the Mahindra Bolero were killed in the accident.

The victims were returning to their village in Kunda after attending a wedding, police said, adding that their SUV had rammed the truck, which was parked on the side of the highway due to a punctured tyre, from behind. Spot images showed the crumbled SUV being pulled out from the back of the truck.

In a video briefing on Friday morning, UP police said police officials reached the spot and recovered five dead bodies from the mangled Bolero. Later, a JCB machine was used to pull out the car from the back of the truck and the rest nine bodies were also recovered.

Out of the 14 killed, six were children in 7-15 age group and eight men, said police, adding that they are in process of registering an FIR. The dead bodies will be sent for post-mortem on Saturday morning.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has expressed grief over the accident and has directed senior officials to reach the spot and provide all possible help to victims.