Two persons were killed and another five injured when a brick-laden lorry collided head-on with a sand-laden one on the Itahar-Balurghat Road at Tilna under the Itahar police station in North Dinajpur district this morning.
The injured persons are undergoing treatment in the Raiganj Super Specialty Hospital. The deceased have been identified as Saidul Hoque, 42 and Mannan Hossain, 40, the driver and assistant of the sand-laden truck. Both were residents of Kaliachak in Malda.
The injured on the other hand are laborers who work on trucks, loading and unloading sand. According to a witness, the brick-laded 10-wheeler was speeding towards Balurghat near Tilna, when suddenly a motor van came on the road.
“As the truck driver tried to avert a collision with the van, another speeding sand-laden lorry came from the opposite direction on the narrow road,” the witness said. “The driver and the assistant of the sand-laden lorry died on the spot.
Five other received severe injuries. They were immediately sent to the Itahar hospital from where they were shifted to Raiganj super speciality hospital for better medical services,” a local said.
The Officer-in-charge of the Itahar police station, Nandan Kumar, said, “The actual cause of the accident is yet to be known. The two vehicles have been seized. We have started investigations.”