Three dead, three injured, nine vehicles smashed by oil tanker

EOI, MALDA, 16 Oct 2016: Three persons were run over, three others were injured and nine vehicles were smashed by a speeding fuel tanker at Chowranghee turning at a stone throw distance from Kaliachak police station around 10 pm last night. Aggrieved by the deaths of three persons the locals ransacked the tanker and beat up the driver. Police immediately rushed to the spot. The tanker was detained and the driver was arrested.

Police informed that the deceased were an iron factory owner Mohammed Ansar Ali, 46, his nephew Akbar Sheikh, 30 and a taxi driver Farijuddin Momin, 22. Yusuf Khan, 39, Sanjib Rishi, 20 and Fitu Sheikh, 35 were injured and now under treatment in Malda Medical College and Hospital (MMCH).

According to sources, three fuel tankers rushing at breakneck speed towards Farakka in Murshidabad along the NH-34 district were competing with one and another. Suddenly, the fuel tanker that was in the front lost its control and ran over Ansar Ali and Akbar Sheikh, who were standing by the roadside. The tanker then hit Farijuddin Momin. Even then the tanker kept rolling and hit three ambassador taxis, three SUVs (sports utility vehicles) and three two wheelers kept beside the NH-34.

The tanker finally stopped and the injured were rushed to MMCH. Three of them succumbed to their injuries shortly. A mob by then started ransacking the tanker and started beating the tanker driver. Meanwhile, police rushed to the spot. The lorry driver was rescued and eventually arrested.

Locals alleged that three tankers were competing with one another recklessly. The drivers were drunk too, they alleged.

Abhishek Talukdar, a police officer of Kaliachak police station said that three persons were killed in a road accident in Kaliachak. Police went to the spot and brought the excitement under control. The driver of the tanker was arrested and the tanker was detained.