6 killed in mishap

4-year-old lone survivor as truck smashes into car

The wrecked Maruti van and the truck at the accident site. A Telegraph picture Dhubri, March 11 : Cushioned in her mother’s lap, a four-year-old girl was the only survivor of a head-on collision between a truck and a Maruti van that killed all the six other passengers of the van on National Highway 31 in Dhubri around midnight. The lone survivor, Monika Khatoon, 4, was admitted to the Dhubri Civil Hospital but her injuries were not serious. The deceased have been identified as Amir Ali, 38, his wife, Sapura Bibi, 35, his two daughters, Monila Khatoon, 5, and Anjuma Khatoon, 6, his sister Sabeda Bibi, 28, and his friend, Sonowar Hussain, 32. Ali was driving the vehicle. Police said the group was coming from Dotma in Kokrajhar district after attending a wedding and were going to Motirchar-Adabari village in Dhubri district. They were travelling in a Maruti van (AS-16/2506). The truck (WB-41(B)/1625) that was coming from Cooch Behar in North Bengal hit the Maruti van at Botertal in Targhat village (about 12km from the district headquarters of Dhubri) under Gouripur police station. It hit the vehicle with such intensity that no one but the child survived, they added. A resident of Botertal, Mohammad Salam Uddin, said he and other villagers rushed out of their houses after hearing the sound of the collision. “But there was little left to do. We found the passengers dead, barring one little baby who was in the lap of her mother. We took out the bodies from the van.” he added. “It was a pathetic sight. The child was awake and appeared numbed. She was not crying or making any noise, but we knew she was alright because she was moving. There were some scratches on her forehead. The mother must have cushioned the baby from any major impact of the accident,” he said. Dhubri deputy superintendent of police Subhasis Baruah said the police were probing how the accident occurred. “We are yet to get the details as the driver and the handyman of the truck are absconding and there is no other adult survivor,” he added. In another mishap on National Highway 31 in October last year, 23 passengers of a bus had died after being hit by a truck. An official of the traffic department blamed reckless driving by bus and truck drivers and weather conditions for the accidents. “Last night there was some fog which might have reduced visibility,” he said, adding that the condition of the Maruti van indicated that it was hit at a great speed. He said the van could have been speeding too.