Guwahati: At least seven students were killed and six others were seriously injured after a Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) rammed the median divider and collided head-on with a goods carrier coming from the other direction at the Jalukbari area in Assam’s Kamrup Metropolitan district, on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday. The fatal accident took place near the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Guwahati West District, at around 1 am. There were a total of 10 occupants in the SUV, all of whom were third-year students of the Assam Engineering College (AEC), Jalukbari, Guwahati.
According to the statement of the Jalukbari Police, the over-speeding SUV, bearing registration number AS01-FK-9605, coming from the Azara side of Kamrup Rural district, lost control and rammed against the median divider and crossed over to the other lane of the road and collided head-on with the goods carrier bearing registration number AS01-GC-8829.
The hired SUV was being driven by one of the students, Kaushik Baruah.
On the other hand, there were three occupants in the goods carrier, all of whom were seriously injured.
While seven of the 10 students in the SUV died on the spot, three others were seriously injured. All the six seriously injured were immediately rushed to the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Guwahati.
The condition of one of the injured is stated to be critical as five others are said to be stable.
The names of the deceased are Arindam Bhallal, (Guwahati), Rajkiran Bhuyan, (Majuli), Niyar Deka, (Golaghat), Kaushik Baruah, (Mangaldoi), Emon Gayan, (Dibrugarh), Kaushik Mohan, (Charaideo) and Upangshu Sarma, (Nagaon).
The injured students who are undergoing treatment at the GMCH are Arpan Bhuyan, (Jorhat), Arnab Chakraborty, (Bongaigaon), and Mrinmoy Borah, (Jorhat).
The injured persons of the good carrier are Muzammil Haque and Yusuf Ali, both from Nalbari, while Rajib Ali is a resident of Barpeta.
The police soon removed both vehicles and cleared the traffic on the highway.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma while reacting to the tragedy tweeted, "Extremely anguished by the loss of young and precious lives in the road accident at Jalukbari. My deepest condolences to their parents and families. Have spoken to authorities at GMCH. All possible medical assistance is being provided to those injured."
Road Accidents In Assam
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma last year directed the state transport department to ensure that necessary safety norms are introduced in the accident-prone areas to bring down the cases of road accidents in the state.
The Chief Minister also asked the state transport minister Parimal Suklabaidya to hold a meeting with the Public Works Department (PWD) and state transport department to assess and analyze the road accidents in the accident-prone areas and suggest measures to introduce more safety norms to save lives of the people.
Chief Minister Sarma further asked District Commissioners of all the districts to immediately find out ways to cut down road accidents which recorded over 100 casualties in a year.
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. As many as 3,207 people 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 it 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 of the state, compelling the Assam government to impose speed limits on the highways.
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