Eight persons crushed to death

LUCKNOW: Eight persons including five women and two children were crushed to death on the spot while another five critically wounded when a speeding truck went off the road crashing into a series of hutments on the roadside near Nawalpur police outpost under Salempur police station of Deoria district of Uttar Pradesh in the wee hours of Thursday. The state government announced an ex-gratia relief to the kins of the deceased and free medical treatment of the injured.
Reports said that the incident took place around 3 am on Thursday when a speeding truck (UP 53 T 5462) suddenly went off the road and crashed into a series of hutments on the roadside before it turned turtle and came to a halt.Of the total of 29 occupants of the damaged huts, eight were killed while 5 critically wounded. The remaining either escaped unscathed or suffered minor bruises.The deceased were identified as Rajendra's daughter Durgawati (11), son Tantan (7) and wife Subhawati (45) along with his brother Bhupendra's wife Phoolmati (35) and son Abhimanu (19). Amrawati (35) wife of Dewendra of Mau, Gulzari (65) and Sonu (18). The deceased were boatmen by caste and profession and earned their bread and butter by fishing in the nearby river.
The injured included Rajendra's second daughter Chutti (9) leaving Rajendra as the only member in the family to have escaped unhurt. Other injured were identified as Lalmati (18), Surah (04), Mintu (30) and Chandan (2).As the information about the incident reached senior administrative officers, help was rushed to the site and the injured admitted to the local district hospital. According to the government sources, Rs 8,000 was handed over to the kin of each of the deceased for the last rites while the injured were being treated free at the government hospital.