Alipurduar, May 1: Fourteen people of a marriage party, including the newly wed couple, died when the overloaded van they were travelling in collided with a truck on a highway in Alipurduar district early today.
Alipurduar police superintendent Akash Maghania said the van was carrying 22 people, far more than its capacity of eight. He added that inspections would be stepped up to ensure that vehicles did not ferry passengers disregarding safety norms.
According to the police, the accident happened around 5am on NH31C in Madarihat, 50km from Alipurduar town.
Seven persons died on the spot and six at Madarihat block hospital. The driver of the van, Vinod Shah, 31, died while being taken to North Bengal Medical College Hospital (NBMCH). Eight of the injured have been referred to NBMCH.
The police said the wedding party was returning to the Chuapara tea estate in Kalchini when the accident occurred.
"Akash Oraon, 21, of the Mangalkote tea estate in Nagrakata, about 155km from Madarihat, had got married to Mana Kishan, 19, of Chuapara on Wednesday. Last evening, the wedding party, mostly residents of the Chuapara and Mathura tea estates, started on their way back to the bride's home for a ritual. Those dead include six women and a minor," a police source said.
According to eyewitnesses, the van was packed with passengers and some were sitting on the roof. Mantosh Shah, an employee of a roadside eatery, said the van was travelling at a high speed.
"The van lost control and came in front of a truck travelling in the opposite direction. The driver of the truck, which was also speeding, tried to avoid the collision but could not," Shah said.
"Badly injured people were lying inside the van and on the road. We took them to the Madarihat health centre in vehicles parked on the roadside. Among the dead were the bride and the groom," he added.
Birsa Oraon, a worker of the Mathura tea estate who lost both his daughters in the accident, said at Alipurduar district hospital: "Mana (the bride) was our relative. My two daughters had gone to the wedding. Around 6.30am today, I heard about an accident involving a marriage party and rushed to the Madarihat health centre. I came to know that my daughters had died," he said.
Alipurduar police superintendent Magharia said both vehicles had been seized. "The driver of the truck fled. We are looking for the owner of the van," he said.
Mohan Sharma, the Trinamul sabhadhipati of the Alipurduar zilla parishad, said the chief minister had announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh for the next of kin of each of the dead.
"On hearing about the incident, I went to the Madarihat health centre and the Alipurduar hospital. I called up chief minister Mamata Banerjee and she told me that the state government would pay Rs 2 lakh each to the family members of those killed. The treatment costs of the injured will be borne by the state government," Sharma said.
