SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
SILCHAR: A fatal road mishap happened last night on Ashimganj-Patharkandi by pass connecting the valley of Barak with Tripura. The spot of the tragic accident is 90 kms from here. According to information from Karimganj, ever since the construction of the bypass, there have been frequent accidents due mainly to speed and careless driving. It was around 10.30 of Monday night that a 500 bags of cement loaded lorry while negotiating a culvert on the bypass near Konagaon village lost control and rolled down. The lorry capsized and under the heavy weight of cement bags, three riders on the front including the driver and his assistant lost their lives. Miraculously, one passenger escaped with injuries.
The dead has been identified as Rabindra Shabdkar (24), Nripendra Shabdkar (22) and Bikram Deb (35). The driver and his assistant hailed from Ambasa in Tripura. Bikram Deb is also a driver who comes from Uttar Kadamtala of Tripura. The survivor Dipankar Baidya also a truck driver is a resident of village Asaighat in Karimganj district. According to his statement, he went to Kalian in Cachar district on Sunday with his friend Bikram to buy an old truck. But as they could not strike the deal, both of them decided to come back and boarded the ill fated lorry at Digarkhal down Kalain to come back home
Dipankar recreating the tragic accident said as the lorry was nearing the culvert on bypass, a truck from the opposite direction also in speed was about to collide with it. The driver of the lorry in his attempt to slow down the lorry lost his control and the engine stopped working and the vehicle in darkness rolled down the culvert and slid into a water filled gorge. And with that the bags of cement started falling on the riders in the driver's cabin, suffocating them. For Dipankar, it was a providential escape.
Dipankar added to say the villagers nearby came rushing to rescue them from the cabin which had almost sunk into water as the truck was in totters. Others were lost forever. He was brought alive and would never forget the timely help from the villagers in this dark and wintry night. Sanjeev Terang, officer in charge of Patharkandi police station along with his team of police men reached the spot and deployed JCB machine to bring out the dead bodies which were sent for post mortem. The members of the ill fated riders in the lorry were informed who reached Karimganj in the evening today to claim the dead bodies. The lorry with cement was returning from Meghalaya and heading to Agartala.