Five youths die in mishap on Jodhpur-Jaipur highway

JODHPUR: Five persons died and two others were injured in a road accident on Jodhpur-Jaipur highway near Dangiyawas late on Sunday night when their vehicle collided head on with a truck.
Two persons died on the spot, while three others succumbed on the way to hospital in Jodhpur. The injured are undergoing treatment and are said to be stable.
The truck driver, however, fled from the spot after the accident. Police have seized the truck and launched a hunt for him.
Those deceased have been identified as Rajesh Singh, Narendra Singh, Manohar, Gopal and Dharmendra, while injured include Sikandar Singh and Chandan Singh. All of them belonged to village Londari Malgaon in Beawar sub-division of Ajmer district and were returning to their village from Jodhpur.
Dangiyawas SHO Kanhaiyalal said the accident took place around midnight on Sunday when the speeding passenger vehicle tried to overtake another vehicle.
“In an attempt to overtake, the driver increased the speed of the vehicle, but failed to assess the distance of the truck coming from the opposite direction and collided with it,” the officer said.
He said the collision was so intense that the vehicle turned into a mangled mass of iron and all the victims got stuck in it. Villagers and police, who rushed to the spot, had a tough time in pulling the victims out.
The accident took place at a patch of the highway where half of the roadside was shut due to civil work and traffic was flowing on the rest half of the road.