Eight people, who were on their way to Tarini shrine in Keonjhar district of Odisha, died after their van rammed into a truck parked along the highway under Ghatgaon police station area on Friday.

According to police, the van was carrying 20 devotees. While seven of them died on the spot, another person succumbed to injuries at hospital. All the passengers belong to Digapahandi in Ganjam district.

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They said many people were also injured in the incident and are in a critical condition.

“The driver of the van lost control of the vehicle. It is also being believed that the driver of the lorry might have dozed off leading to the mishap,” a police official said, adding that a case has been registered in this connection.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik expressed grief over the incident. He also announced Rs 3 lakh ex gratia assistance to the kin of the victims.

As many as 4,178 persons lost their lives in road mishaps and the State recorded close to 5% jump in road accident fatalities in the current year from January to September corresponding to the last year’s tally.

There were 8,939 road accidents, 4,178 fatalities and 7,898 injuries occurred during the year 2023 from January to September. There is 2.84 % increase in accidents in 2023( Jan to Sept) and 4.89 % increase in fatalities (Jan to Sept) as compared to 2022 of the same period whereas there was 11,663 i.e 6.19% increase in road accident in 2022 as compared to 2021 and 7.5 % increasing fatalities in 2022 as compared to the year 2021, said officials.

The Odisha government has launched a weeklong campaign to reduce the upward swing of road accident fatalities.