In a horrific road accident in Khutar town of Shahjahanpur district, a gravel-laden dumper collided with a Volvo bus parked outside a dhaba and overturned over it.
In the accident on Saturday night on Khutar-Gola Road, 11 pilgrims sitting in the bus were killed and 25 were injured, police confirmed on Sunday. The pilgrims were on their way to Purnagiri temple in Uttarakhand.
The condition of the many injured was reported to be critical.
Shahjahanpur SP Ashok Kumar Meena said that around 11 pm, they received information that a truck had collided with a parked bus in Khutar police station area. The bus was going to Purnagiri in Uttarakhand with pilgrims from Uttar Pradesh’s Sitapur district . Some devotees were sitting inside the bus and some were having food inside the dhaba at the time of the accident. The truck went out of control and overturned on the bus.
Around 80 people living in villages Bada Jatha and Chhota Jatha of Kamlapur police station area of Sitapur had left for Purnagiri darshan in a Volvo bus on Saturday night. The bus stopped at a dhaba near the town on the Khutar-Gola road. After getting off the bus, some people went to eat while many people remained sitting inside. At around 10:30 pm, the accident took place.
The gravel in the dumper also got inside the bus. There was a lot of chaos after the accident. The reason behind the accident is believed to be the dumper driver losing control of his steering wheel . The dumper driver could not be traced after the accident.
Among the deceased, some were identified as Somvati( 45) , Chutki , Ajit( 16), Pramod Kumar, Meena Devi (30) Shivshanker, Suman( 36) and Aditya( 10).