Bhubaneswar/ Kanas: At least nine people were killed and four others sustained severe injuries in two separate road mishaps in Satyabadi area of Puri district and in the Capital city here Monday.
Two morning walkers were killed and two others were hospitalised with serious injuries after a car hit them from behind near the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar Monday. Police said one died on the spot and another died in hospital.
Sources said one D Behera, (60), of Nayapalli and his two daughters and a relative were walking near the Kalinga Stadium when a car hit them from behind.
Behera died on the spot and the injured were rushed to Capital Hospital where another died. The other relatives are undergoing treatment.
Tension gripped the Kalinga Stadium area after the incident as angry people alleged that the accident occurred as the authorities stopped morning walks inside the stadium.
Bhubaneswar-Cuttack Police Commissioner YB Khurania said the police is trying to find the vehicle involved in the accident.
In another incident seven persons were killed and two others were injured when their autorickshaw collided head on with a truck in Puri district, police said Monday.
The accident took place at the Sukala Square of Jagannath Sadak in the Satyabadi area late Sunday night when nine people were returning to their village in an auto-rickshaw after attending the cremation of a man at Swargadwar in Puri.
Satyabadi inspector-in-charge Krushna Chandra Sethy said the deceased and the injured were residents of Andalsingha village in the Kanas block of the district.
Police said Umakanta Baliarsingh, (55), and Kumar Biswal, (62), died on the spot and that Sunil Samantray, (50), and auto-rickshaw driver Tapu Biswal, (22), died while undergoing treatment at the district headquarters hospital.
Later, the injured were shifted to a hospital in Bhubaneswar where Bidyadhar Boral, (52), Sagar Pradhan, (70), and Halu Nayak, (65), died in the evening. Maguni Nayak, (40), and Sarveswar Mohapatra, (58), are still battling for life.
Meanwhile, the public blocked the road by keeping two bodies on the road and demanded compensation for the deceased and the injured. The district administration assured `60,000 each to the families of the deceased and the protest was called off.
Some of the protesters abused and manhandled Kanas tehsildar Sanjay Kumar Pratihari when he visited the accident spot.
Later, sub-collector Madhusudan Das, MLA Umakanta Samantray and the police visited the spot and talked to the protestors. The officials assured `10,000 from the Red Cross Fund and `50,000 from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund to the deceased and treatment to the injured.
PNN
