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The truck beside the Bankura road. (Sujata Khan)
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Durgapur, Aug. 19: A speeding mini truck trying to avoid a pothole ran over and killed four youths playing cards beside a state highway in Bankura last night.
Four others were injured and admitted to a hospital.
“A dozen youths were playing cards on the edge of the road when the truck hit them around 11.30pm. Four managed to jump out of harm’s way, ” a police officer said.
The driver and cleaner of the truck, coming from Purulia, fled, leaving the vehicle behind.
Residents of nearby Gholgoria village, from where the youths hailed, rushed to the spot and arranged for an ambulance. The youths were taken to Bankura Sammiloni Medical College Hospital, where four of them died today.
Those who died were identified as Kartik Bauri, 20, Bapi Mandal, 19, Gautam Pramanik, 18, and Sushanta Sinha Thakur, 19.
Residents blocked the highway, which connects Purulia and Bankura, demanding the arrest of the driver. A police team from Chatna assured the villagers the driver would be arrested soon. The blockade was lifted after eight hours.
Villagers said they had repeatedly complained to district authorities about the potholed stretch but to no avail.
A district official blamed the incessant rain for failing to repair the road. “We will repair the road after the monsoon,” he added.
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