Guwahati: Two persons were killed and five others sustained serious injuries when the Swift Dzire they were travelling in rammed into a stationary roadside oil tanker near Jakhalabandha in Nagaon district on Monday evening.
The deceased were identified as Samsul Haque and Ansarul Ali, both natives of Sirajuli village in Sonitpur district.
The accident took place near Rangaloo area under Kaliabor sub-division of the district, when the deceased with five others were travelling from Kaziranga to Dhekiajuli in Sonitpur district in the ill-fated vehicle.
According to eyewitness accounts, the driver of the Swift Dzire, bearing registration number AS13-P-5066, was over-speeding and overtaking almost all the vehicles on the National Highway (NH) 37, when it rammed into the stationary oil tanker, bearing registration number MN01-8725, at Rangaloo.
All the injured were immediately rushed to the Jakhalabandha Community Health Centre (CHC) First Referral Units (FRU), in serious condition.
“We were going towards Rangaloo when the car overtook us in breakneck speed and then overtook several other vehicles before ramming into the stationary oil tanker. We stopped our car and immediately dialed 108 and informed the Jakhalabandha police. Two of the occupants died on the spot while the remaining five were rushed to the nearby hospital in a serious condition. It was entirely the car driver’s fault as he was speeding,” an eyewitness told the media.
All the injured are undergoing treatment at the hospital and the Jakhalabandha police have booked a case in connection with the incident.
Assam has witnessed an increase in road accident cases in the recent past. At least 8,250 cases of road accidents were registered in Assam in 2019, 6,593 in 2020, and 4,328 by July 31, 2021. On the other hand, as many as 3,207 people have died in road accidents in the state in 2019, 2,629 in 2020, and 1,789 by July 31, 2021.
Over-speeding is one of the major causes of road accidents and accounted for 54.70 per cent of total road accidents in 2018 and 84.40 per cent in 2019. Of the 2,629 deaths in 2020, 48 per cent occurred on the national highways in the state, compelling the Assam government to impose speed limits on the highways.
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on August 2, 2022 directed the state transport department to ensure necessary safety norms are introduced in accident-prone areas to bring down instances of road accidents in the state.
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