Zero Fatality Week: 2 dead in separate incidents of road mishap in Odisha districts

Jajpur/Puri: With the observation of the Zero Fatality Week mostly coming to an end, at least two persons were killed today in separate incidents of road mishaps in Jajpur and Puri districts.

The first incident was reported from Kuakhia locality on NH-16 of Jajpur and the deceased youth was identified as 23-year-old Paresh Kumar Dash, who belonged to Laxminarayanpur of Kendrapara. Paresh was working in a private company at Anandapur of Keonjhar as a customer relations executive.

Paresh had availed leave on Tuesday for his friend’s marriage and was returning to his workplace early the next morning. Unfortunately, he met with an accident leading to his untimely death.

“A speeding truck hit Paresh from the front and he died on the spot,” an eyewitness said.

On being informed, Kuakhia police reached the spot and recovered Paresh’s body. Police have sent the body to a hospital for post-mortem and initiated a probe into the fatal road mishap.

In the second incident, an elderly man aged around 60 years died on the spot after being hit by a private bus named ‘Padmavati’ near Mangalpur village on Puri-Bhubaneswar national highway under Pipili police limits in Puri district in the morning. The deceased elderly man was identified as Phagu Behera, who belonged to Maligopali village of Puri district, a police source said.

Tension erupted in nearby areas following the road mishap. Pipili police have seized the body and sent it to the district headquarters hospital (DHH) in Puri town for post-mortem.