IN Aheart-wrenching road accident in the rural Berasia pocket of the State capital, five members of a single family were killed and 12 others sustained serious injuries during the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday. The victims, residents of Sironj in Vidisha district, were travelling to Narmadapuram (Hoshangabad) for the auspicious Makar Sankranti holy dip when their speeding loading vehicle collided head-on with a tractor-trolley. According to Berasia Police Station In-charge Virendra Sen, the Ahirwar family was travelling in a pickup vehicle.

 

At approximately 2 am, near the Thakur Lal Singh School, the vehicle crashed into a tractor-trolley arriving from the opposite direction. The impact was so severe that the front portion of the pickup was completely mangled, trapping the occupants inside the wreckage. Local residents and police officials had to employ heavy machinery to cut through the twisted metal to extricate the bodies and rescue the survivors. Following the alert, Berasia SDM Ashutosh Sharma, MLA Vishnu Khatri and Additional SP Neeraj Chaurasia reached the Government hospital late at night to oversee the emergency response.

 

High-level instructions have been issued to ensure the best possible medical treatment for the 12 injured survivors, which include several children. Preliminary investigations suggest that excessive speed of the loading vehicle was a primary factor leading to the fatal collision. The police administration has identified the deceased as Laxmibai Ahirwar, Babli Bai, Hari Bai, Deepak, and Mukesh Ahirwar. The list of those undergoing treatment at the Berasia Civil Hospital includes Suraj, Vinita, Punit, Monika, Mahak, Nuri Bai, Lallu, Pradeep, and Jyoti. Two individuals travelling in the tractor-trolley were also caught in the impact and are currently under medical supervision.