Five of family among seven killed in Katihar accident

PATNA: Seven persons, including two women and a girl child, died in a head-on collision between an autorickshaw they were travelling in and a truck on NH-81 (Gedabari-Katihar road) in Katihar district Monday night. Most of the victims were family members and travelling to Katihar Junction to board a train for Madhya Pradesh.
The truck was coming from the Railway Colony side and hit the autorickshaw coming from Kheria side. The autorickshaw driver and six passengers died on the spot. The truck driver fled with his vehicle. The accident took place near Dighari petrol pump under Korha police station area, said SHO Rupak Ranjan Singh.
SHO: Scrutinizing CCTV footage of nearby areas of accident site to identify the truck
He told TOI: "Five of the deceased belonged to the same family. The family was going to Itarsi in Madhya Pradesh and they had to board a train from Katihar Junction."
The deceased had been identified as Arun Thakur of Kheria, his wife Urmila Devi, daughter-in-law Pallavi Kumari, two-year-old granddaughter and his brother-in-law Dhananjay Thakur.
Auto driver Pappu Paswan and a youth Golu Kumar (24) from the same village, also died in the accident.
"Hearing the loud noise of collision, the locals rushed to the spot. The police pulled out the bodies from inside the vehicle. We are scrutinizing the CCTV footage of the nearby areas to identify the truck," the SHO added.
SDPO Omprakash and SDO Shankar Sharan reached the spot and sent the bodies to Sadar Hospital for the post-mortem.