KANPUR: Three people, including two children, died and nine others were seriously injured when an SUV rammed into a truck parked on the National Highway at 6 am on Monday in Kanpur, police said.The accident took place at Ruma in Maharajpur, 20 km from the district headquarters towards Prayagraj. Police said 12 people were travelling in the SUV and its speed was more than 100. They were travelling from Sirsa in Haryana to Gaya in Bihar.The dead were identified as car driver Bajrang (45) of Dig Baddi, Sirsa, Haryana, passenger Dilkush Kumar (11) of Bihar, and an unidentified girl.According to eyewitnesses, the truck was parked in the service lane on the highway when the Scorpio rammed into it from behind. Police said the collision was so severe that the car was blown to pieces, completely shattered, and its roof was blown off. Those travelling in the Scorpio got trapped inside and kept writhing in pain. The vehicle was damaged in such a way that no one could get out. Police personnel who reached the spot cut open the vehicle with a gas cutter, and with the help of passersby, the injured were taken out.The injured were taken to Kanshiram Hospital and later referred to Lala Lajpat Rai (LLR) Hospital in serious condition. The injured were identified as Naresh Manjhi (40), Savitri Devi (31), Sneha Kumar (8), Vakil Yadav (35), Riya (8), Anisha Kumari (10), Kavita Kumari (18), Himanshu (22), and Kesar Bharti (28). They were being treated at LLR Hospital.Police said all those in the SUV were part of two families that jointly booked the vehicle to travel to Bihar and Jharkhand. Vakil Yadav, a resident of Bade Bigha in Thana Chatra, Jharkhand, was returning home from Haryana with his family, including his wife Kavita Kumari, daughter Anisha Kumari (10), and Riya (8). The second family included Naresh Mandal of Khapiya village in Dhamna, Gaya, Bihar, his wife Savitri Devi, Kesar Bharti, daughter Sneha, and son Dilkush Kumar. Father and son, driver Bajrang (45) and Himanshu (22), residents of Dig Baddi in Sirsa, Haryana, also travelled in the SUV.After the collision, the truck driver fled with the truck, police said. Police caught him near Tiwaripur Overbridge, about 13 km away.The truck driver was identified as Adarsh Singh, a resident of Mirzapur. He said that he was sleeping after parking the truck in the service lane on the Kanpur-Prayagraj Highway, and that the SUV rammed into it from behind. He said that after the accident he got scared and fled from the spot.
