Five of a band party die in Katihar road accident

KATIHAR: Five persons were killed and 5 others sustained grievous injuries when an autorickshaw collided head-on with a sand-laden truck on the national highway 31 near Sameli primary health centre at Kurshela in the district in the wee hours of Monday.
The autorickshaw carrying 10 members of a band party was coming from Purnia side, while the truck was coming from Khagaria side, said sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) of Katihar Sadar, Amar Kant Jha.
Three persons died on the spot and one on way to Katihar sadar hospital where the fifth succumbed to his injuries, the SDPO said. The truck was seized but its driver managed to escape.
According to Dr Anupam Alok, medical officer of the community health centre of Sameli block in Katihar district, the deceased were identified as Arjun Mochi (50), Kishore Paswan (45), Dharmendra Kumar Mandal (50), Sushil Kumar Mochi (30) and Chotelal Ram (42).
“The deceased belonged to Majdiha village under Kurshela block,” he said and added: “The injured have been identified as Santosh Kumar (25), Mithu Kumar (17), Chintu Kumar (16), Sri Mochi (60) and Siyaram Mandal (32), also from the same village.”
The five injured were first referred to Sameli primary health centre, Kurshela, where the doctors referred them to Katihar Sadar hospital, said Afaque Akhter Ansari, DSP-cum-SHO of Pothia police station. “Of the five injured, the condition of one person is critical. The occupants of the autorickshaw had suffered head and leg injuries,” said Ansari.
A police constable, on the condition of anonymity, said, “We were informed by the locals during a highway patrol duty at some distance from the accident site. The rescue work began thereafter.”
The truck has registration number of Jharkhand (JH-12D, 9380).