A truck driver was charred to death after his vehicle caught fire following a head-on collision with another lorry on NH12 in Sagardighi, Murshidabad, on Thursday afternoon.
Rehaman Ali, 32, of Duttapukur in North 24-Parganas, was rushed to the Jangipur Subdivisional Hospital, where doctors declared him brought-dead. The other truck involved in the accident also caught fire, and the driver suffered critical burn injuries.
The police said that the injured driver was Rejaul Karim, 28, a resident of Samserganj in Murshidabad district. He is being treated at Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital.
The accident took place around 12.40pm in the vicinity of the Sheikhdighi bus stand under the jurisdiction of the Sagardighi police station. According to the police and local sources, a truck laden with sand entered the wrong lane and collided head-on with the Calcutta-bound lorry carrying tea leaves from north Bengal.
The impact was so severe that the vehicle loaded with the tea leaves caught fire almost immediately, apparently because of a blast in the fuel tank.
Eyewitnesses said the flames spread rapidly and engulfed the front portion of the cabin, leaving the driver trapped inside.
“The fire spread so quickly that he had no time to escape,” a resident said. The vehicle’s cleaner, who was also inside the cabin, managed to jump out in time and
escaped unhurt.
Residents tried to douse the flames till the police and fire brigade personnel arrived.
Fire tenders from Jangipur brought the blaze under control.