Raipur
In a tragic incident, as many as 19 tribals, including 18 women, were killed when the pick-up van ferrying them plunged into the valley at Banjari Ghat in Kabirdham district.
The victims include 15 women, three teenage girls and a man, all residents of Semraha village under the Pandariya block of the district. Police said as per preliminary information, a brake failure led to the major accident. Incidentally, the victims had been travelling in the same vehicle for the past one week.
“The incident took place around 2 pm in Banjari Ghat near Bahpani village in the Kukdur police station limits when the 36 occupants of the vehicle were returning after plucking tendu leaves from forest,” Kabirdham Superintendent of Police Abhishek Pallava said. Tendu leaves are used for making ‘beedis’ or leaf-wrapped cigarettes.
When the vehicle was descending in Banjari Ghat (valley), the driver shouted that the brakes have failed following which many male occupants and he himself jumped off, the SP informed media persons adding the vehicle veered off the road, tumbled down 40 feet and crashed onto a road below the valley. And there is a 200 feet deep gorge on the other side of the road where the vehicle finally crashed, he said.
While 12 women and a man were killed on the spot, five women of the nine injured succumbed when they were being shifted to a hospital,” he said. The remaining four injured persons, including three women, were shifted to Kabirdham district hospital here where a woman succumbed, the SP said.
The police will register a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder against the vehicle’s owner and the driver.
Deputy CM Vijay Sharma, who holds the Home portfolio, visited both the Pandariya community health centre where the 13 bodies were brought for post-mortem, as also the accident spot.
While brake failure has been cited as the main cause, a probe is underway to ascertain the exact reason.
President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi also expressed grief over the accident and loss of lives.
“The news of the death of many people in a road accident in Kabirdham district of Chhattisgarh is very sad. I express my deepest condolences to the families who lost their loved ones in this accident and wish speedy recovery to those injured,” said the President in a message on social media platform X.
“The road accident that occurred in Kawardha, Chhattisgarh, is very painful. My condolences to those who lost their loved ones in this accident. I wish speedy recovery of the injured. Under the supervision of the state government, the local administration is engaged in providing all possible help to the victims,” the PM said in a message.
Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai condoled the incident and asked the officials to provide better treatment to the injured. He announced Rs 5 lakhs each to the kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 each to the family members of the injured people in the accident.
“Learnt about the tragic accident near Bahpani village in Kabirdham district. Necessary instructions have been given to the district administration to provide better treatment to the injured. May the departed souls rest in peace, and I express my deepest condolences to their families. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured,” Sai said in a post on ‘X’.
