In a tragic incident, four persons including two minor girls were killed after the pickup they were travelling accidentally fell into Sheonath River from the British era river over-bridge at Pulgaon. The incident occurred at 1 am on Wednesday while the victims were returning to Durg after having food in a roadside ‘Dhaba’ situated on the outskirts of the city. Meanwhile search for one more minor missing girl who too was present in the vehicle was on till the last reports came in. Meanwhile, the police have pulled out the vehicle with the help of a crane and sent the bodies to mortuary for post-mortem examination. Police have also stopped vehicular movement on the old over bridge in the aftermath of the incident.

 

The deceased have been identified as Lalit Kumar Sahu (40), a resident of Borsi, Durg; Tameshwari Deshmukh (33), wife of Girish and her two children Yash Lakshmi (13) and Kumud (7), all residents of village Sakrod, Gunderdehi in Balod district. Another minor Garima (11) who was reportedly present in the vehicle was missing and search for her was on. Police informed that at about 1 am on Wednesday, the family together had dinner at KGN Dhaba and they were coming to Durg in the Bolero Pickup truck bearing registration number CG-07 CN-0860. While the vehicle was passing through the old over bridge at Pulgaon, it accidentally fell into the river. It is presumed that the driver might have lost control over the vehicle resulting into the tragic accident.

 

The locals had alerted the police and the State Disaster Response Force personnel were engaged in the rescue and search operation since early morning hours. The vehicle was finally pulled out from the river with the help of a crane and four bodies were recovered. Search for the missing girl Garima was still in progress. This was second such incident in Pulgaon as some time ago, a car had similarly fell into the river from the old over bridge resulting into a casualty. When contacted, City Superintendent of Police (Durg), Mani Shankar Chandra said that the vehicle and bodies were taken out while search operation for one minor girl missing was in progress. He said that all of them were returning to Durg after having dinner in a Dhaba.