10-min stop turns fatal, 5 lives lost in Dindori accident:Driver dozes off; speeding tanker mows down victims, bodies found scattered on road

“If I hadn’t gone to the toilet, I probably wouldn’t have survived,” said Uday Pratap, who is admitted to the district hospital in Dindori after being injured in the accident. The incident occurred on the Jabalpur–Amarkantak National Highway (NH-45) on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday, when a capsule tanker ran over people standing by the roadside, killing five. All the deceased were related to each other, including a father and son. Their last rites were performed on Sunday afternoon. Dainik Bhaskar team visited the accident site, around 40 km from the district headquarters, and spoke to injured Uday Pratap and eyewitness Shribanti at the hospital. “We had stopped for barely 10 minutes, and in that short span, 5 lives were lost,” Shribanti said. “The impact was so severe that bodies were mutilated and had to be wrapped in cloth.” Blood and pieces of flesh scattered on the road In Dindori, there is a forest depot 3 kms before Gada Sarai. A crowd of people had gathered here. Blood and pieces of flesh were lying on the road. There were other items, including shoes and slippers as well. A pickup and a capsule tanker were parked on one side of the road. The bus stop and the electric pole built a short distance away were in a damaged condition. Villagers said that near Kikra Talab village, a speeding capsule vehicle, MP19 ZO 9351, had run over 5 people. All the people, residents of Parswah village, were returning from a chauk program in Silyari village. During this time, their pickup vehicle, MP65 ZD 1118, got punctured on the Jabalpur-Amarkantak National Highway. Around 12:30 AM at night, the driver had parked the vehicle on the roadside and was changing tire. The people sitting in the pickup had gotten out and were engaged in conversation by the roadside. Just then, a speeding capsule coming from the Amarkantak direction ran over 5 people. During this, two people were thrown about 10 feet in the air. All five bodies were stuck to the road. The police had to wrap the bodies in cloth to take them away. People got out of the pickup after the wheel got punctured Shribanti, the sister of injured Uday Singh, was also traveling in the pickup vehicle. She narrates that Hanswati Tekam of Bharra Tola in Surajpura village had her first son. To attend his ‘chauk’ ceremony on Saturday evening around 6 PM, 20-25 people had arrived in a pickup vehicle. After the community feast, all the people were returning in the same pickup around 11 PM at night. During this time, the rear right wheel of the vehicle got punctured. After this, all the people got out of the vehicle and sat on the other side of the road. Pickup driver Rajkaran Vanvasi started changing the tire. Someone’s legs broken, someone’s head crushed Shribanti said that within moments, a speeding tanker came from the Amarkantak side. It ran over people standing on the roadside and moved ahead. It stopped only after breaking the electric pole and the passenger waiting shed on the roadside. There was screaming and crying. Blood was splattered all over the road. We immediately informed the police. SDOP Satish Dwivedi said that when police reached the spot, bodies were scattered on the road. Someone’s legs were broken, stomach torn, and someone’s head was crushed. They were sent for postmortem. The tanker and pickup were separated with the help of a JCB and a crane. It took about three hours to clear the road. Thrown away by the impact, fell unconscious Injured Uday Pratap (20), son of Kanhaiya, admitted to the district hospital, says, ‘I was helping the driver who was changing tire. Meanwhile, I needed to urinate. I went to the corner side. Suddenly, there was a loud noise. I was hit by the impact and fell far away. Then I became unconscious. When people splashed water on me, only then did I regain consciousness. If I hadn’t gone to the toilet, I wouldn’t have been alive either. However, there is no serious injury. There is definitely pain in the leg’. Among the deceased are father Pawar Singh (50) and son Bihari (29). Pawar Singh was a farmer by profession. Bihari’s younger brother, Prem Singh, is a block coordinator. They earn their livelihood through farming. A few years ago, they received compensation for land submerged in the Narmada. With this money, Bihari bought a second-hand pickup vehicle a year and a half ago. He had hired Rajkaran Maravi as a driver. Tanker driver said that I dozed off Police have arrested the tanker driver Ramesh Patel, a resident of Maihar. Ramesh says that he left with cement from the Ultratech plant four days ago for Karanjiya. On Friday, after emptying the tanker, he was returning around 11 pm after having dinner. The accident occurred due to sudden dozing off.