Gangtok: At least three people died, while many were feared injured after a truck lost control and crashed through the crowd at mela ground in Ranipool of Sikkim. The place where the incident occurred is 11 km away from the Capital city of Sikkim, Gangtok.
The incident happened at around 7 pm on Saturday evening when hundreds of people were gathered at the mela ground.
According to reports, the milk truck coming from uphill Gangtok went straight into the crowd at the mela being held at a truck terminal for over a month now. Before crashing into the mela ground, the truck first hit three taxis parked outside the venue and dragged them towards the crowd.
Following the accident, three died on the spot. The three deceased included a woman and two men. However, the identities of the deceased are yet to be ascertained.
After receiving information about the incident, police reached the spot, seized the bodies and sent it for autopsy. The cops also rushed nearly 20 injured people to the Central Referral Hospital in Tadong. Among the injured, the youngest is an 11-year-old boy and the oldest is a 60-year-old man.
Meanwhile, the driver was not injured and has been taken into custody. As per initial reports, the driver was not driving under the influence of alcohol.
Further investigation into the matter is underway.
In a similar instance in Odisha today, one person died while 10 other were critically injured after a bolero and hyva had an head-on collision in Bhadrak district. The injured were immediately rushed to the nearby hospital, of which six were shifted to Cuttack hospital as their health condition deteriorated.
Ms Kalinga