Berhampur/Balasore/Malkangiri/Cuttack/Nuapada: At least three persons, including a woman, were killed and 97 others injured, 11 of them critically, in five separate road accidents in five districts of Odisha today.
In the first incident, a 50-year-old woman was killed and 58 injured, eight of them seriously, when a bus dashed against a roadside tree at Baunsakata near Bhanjanagar in Ganjam district this morning, the police said.
The deceased was identified as Pana Sari of G Udayagiri in Kandhamal district, said Inspector In-charge of Bhanjanagar police station, AK Sahu.
The overcrowded Berhampur-bound bus was coming from Indragada when it met with the accident near Muzagarh under Bhanjanagar police station limits.
While the eight seriously injured persons were referred to MKCG Medical College and Hospital here, others were treated at the sub-divisional hospital, Bhanjanagar, the police said.
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State's forest minister Bikram Keshari Arukh, who hails from Bhanjanagar, visited the hospital and interacted with the victims of the accident.
"The bus was seized. The driver fled from the spot," the police said.
In another incident in Balasore district, two persons died when a motor bike in which they were travelling, was hit by a truck on National Highway No. 5 near Simulia within the jurisdiction of Simulia police station today, the police said.
The victims were approaching the National Highway after filling fuel from a petrol pump when the two-wheeler was hit by the truck. The truck was seized and the driver arrested, the police said.
In Malkangiri district, 14 persons were injured when a mini truck in which they were travelling overturned near MV-72 village in the morning. Reports said some local traders were carrying their goods to the weekly haat at MV-79 village when the mini truck in which they were travelling lost control and overturned. While 14 persons were injured, three of them were shifted to district headquarters hospital as their condition became critical.
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In another incident, 15 passengers were injured when a Cuttack bound private bus from Chandikhol collided with a truck near Tangi-Baichuan on National Highway-16 in Cuttack district. After the collision, the bus overturned.
Following information, police rushed to the spot and admitted the injured passengers in the SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack.
In Nuapada district, 10 members of a bridegroom party were injured after a mini truck in which they were travelling, overturned near Thutibara under Komana police station limits this afternoon. The injured were later admitted to a government hospital at Komana.