A fatal road accident that kills 10 Chhath Puja devotees in Karimganj

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

SILCHAR: An accident took the lives of ten Chath Puja devotees who were coming back home after performing holy rituals in the morning on the bank of river Longai near Baithakhal Tea Estate under Patharkandi Police Station of the Karimganj district.

According to information, the devotees were packed into a single auto-rickshaw when a cement-laden truck moving in the up direction to Tripura rammed into the vehicle.

The Assam-Tripura Highway looked deserted in the wee hours with no witnesses around. The accident happened on the curvy area of the highway dotted with tea gardens. The truck and the auto seemed to be at speed. The driver of the auto-rickshaw might have lost control, and the truck dashed it.

The collision smashed the auto-rickshaw, throwing all the devotees with their bodies severely mutilated on the highway. The driver managed to salvage himself from the debris and fled. The police are on the hunt to trace him.

A police team from Patharkandi rushed to the spot and washed the bloodstains from the highway blocked by agitated people. It was a heart-rending pathetic sight. The bodies were taken to Karimganj Civil Hospital for post-mortem.

The Deputy Commissioner and the Superintendent of Police of Karimganj visited the place and took stock of the sequences of the mishap.

The victims are – Duja Bai Panika. Salu Bai Panika, Garuv Das Panika, Shambhu Das Panika, Lalon Guswami, Puja Gorh, Deb Gorh, Sanu Ree, Manglae Karmakar and Tupu Karmakar.

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