VARANASI/BHOPAL: Eight Kumbh pilgrims – four from Chhattisgarh’s Raipur, three from MP’s Satna district, and one from Odisha’s Kandhamal – were killed in separate road accidents on Sunday, raising the death toll from such mishaps since the start of the world’s largest religious congregation to 79, report Rajeev Dikshit.
An SUV carrying ten pilgrims returning to Raipur after visiting Maha Kumbh collided with a trailer near Daranakhar of UP’s Sonbhadra around 7.15am. “Anil Pradhan (37), Laxmi Bai (30), Thakur Ram Yadav (58), and Rukmani Yadav (56) were killed, while six others suffered grievous injuries,” Sonbhadra ASP Kalu Singh said.
In another accident in Sonbhadra, a woman, Lata Rath from Tumdiband in Kandhamal, died, while her sister sustained injuries when their bus, en route to Prayagraj, collided with another bus in Piparikhand area on Sunday afternoon.
In Satna, three members of a family, including an 11-year-old child, from MP’s Rewa, died when their pickup van, collided with an SUV on Satna-Chitrakoot highway around 12.30 am on Sunday.