Accident / Three children killed after truck overloaded with sand falls on them in Bihar

PATNA: Altogether three children were killed after they were crushed beneath a huge pile of sand when the truck carrying it lost balance and fell on its side at Madhuban village under Punaura police station area in Sitamarhi town at around 3pm on Friday.

Sitamarhi Sadar SDPO Ramakant Upadhayay said that the deceased children have been identified as Dabsa Begum aged around 14 years, Saima Khatoon who was only six months old and one Abid Ansari aged around seven years.

He said that at least three other children playing at the spot were injured in the accident.

The DSP said that children were playing on the roadside when the truck overloaded with sand fell on them after losing balance.

“The vehicle was a multi-axle ten-wheeled truck which was completely overloaded with sand. It is yet not clear if the sand was illegally or legally mined. It was going towards Riga,” he said.

DSP said the truck driver and co-driver fled from the spot after coming out of the vehicle soon after the accident.

“No receipt has been found inside truck yet required for transporting sand,” he said.

Upadhayay said that it seems the overloaded truck was trying to overtake some other vehicle near the spot.

“The road where accident took place is narrow. It seems the truck’s wheels went below the shoulder of the road which caused it to lose balance and fell sideways due to overloading. All the sand it was carrying got spilled below which the children were crushed,” DSP said.

He said that a heavy-duty crane was used to erect the truck and later bodies were extracted by removing sand from the spot.

Upadhayay said further investigations were on in connection with the incident. He said injured children were rushed to sadar hospital for treatment.