12 killed as van rams into truck in UP district

Lucknow: Exactly 48 hours after 13 school children were killed in a road mishap, tragedy struck again on the roads of Uttar Pradesh.

Twelve persons were killed on Saturday morning when the Tata Magic carrier they were travelling in, rammed into a stationary truck near Uchauliya village in Lakhimpur district.

The deceased included two women while two children, aged one year and three months, had a miraculous escape. A total of 17 passengers were travelling in the vehicle from Shahjahanpur to Sitapur. The driver Anup Awasthi and cleaner Kishan of the vehicle also died in the mishap.

The incident took place in Uchauliya when the overloaded Tata Magic van, on its way to Sitapur from Shahjahanpur, hit the truck from the rear side near a roadside eatery, superintendent of police S. Channappa said.

The driver apparently fell asleep while driving which caused the accident at 6 am on NH 24. Eyewitnesses said that the vehicle was moving at a high speed which increased the impact of the collision.

According to police reports, nine of the 17 people in the vehicle were killed on the spot and three died during treatment. The injured were rushed to a hospital, where the condition of four of them is said to be critical.

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath has condoled the deaths and has asked the district administration to provide proper treatment to the injured persons. Mr Chinnappa said that the some of the deceased had not yet been identified and a probe had been ordered into the mishap.