Six dead, infant escapes unhurt in tragic road accident in Bihar's Jamui

PATNA: A newborn female infant miraculously survived unhurt while six others, including her mother, died after a car in which they were travelling, collided with a stationary heavy vehicle on NH-333A near Lahila village under Sikandara police station in Jamui district at around 1 am on Friday.

The vehicle was parked on roadside and the car rammed it from behind at a high speed. The spot is around 145 kms from Patna.

The deceased persons were identified as Niwas Panday (48) and his wife Seema Devi (46), their daughter Archana Kumari (25), a neighbour Savitri Devi (55), an Asha worker Anjana Kumari (40) and car driver Vipul Kumar (40).

While the Asha worker was a native of Gaura village, rest all were natives of village Tarhari, both under Hilsa police station area in Lakhisarai district.

Sikandara police station SHO Pramod Kumar said that while all the people had died instantly, only the newborn girl was heard crying after villagers reached the spot soon after the accident.

“The infant was daughter of Archana who was born merely two to three days back at Tarhari. The occupants were going to sadar hospital in Jamui from Lakhisarai for Archana’s treatment when the accident took place,” the SHO said.

He said that the infant had fell on the floor between the front and the rear seat of the vehicle and it was her crying that prompted the villagers to act fast.

“Police also reached at the spot immediately. The infant was rushed to sadar hospital after taking her out from amid corpses. Doctors said she had not receive even a single injury in the ghastly accident,” SHO Kumar said.

He said rest all bodies were extricated from the mangled vehicle after several hours of efforts as they were badly trapped.

Meanwhile, Jamui sadar SDPO Ram Pukar Singh said that after preliminary investigations, it surfaced that the driver had not slept for last two to three days due to continuous driving.

“Perhaps he slept on the wheels. In addition, there was poor visibility on the highway due to continuous rain in the area at midnight. Both factors seems to have resulted the accident,” Singh said.

He said bodies were handed over to the family members after post mortem examination and process for disbursing Rs 4 lakh ex-gratia to the kin of each deceased was also initiated.