Speeding car crushes two schoolgirls to death in Bihar's Arwal, 3 injured

Two schoolgirls were crushed to death and three others, including an elderly man, were critically injured when a moving truck ran over them on NH-139 (Patna-Aurangabad highway) under Kaler sub-division in Arwal on Thursday, police said.

The victims were identified as Shivani Kumari (7) and Kajal Kumari (8). The bodies of the girls were handed over to their family members after post-mortem. The injured were admitted to Arwal Sadar Hospital for treatment.

The incident took place around 7 am near Maraila village under Mehandia police station when one Ramashray Paswan (60) was on his way to drop his granddaughter Khushi Kumari (8) and some other girls from the same village to school, which was 2 km. away from the accident site. The driver of a Daudnagar-bound truck from Patna lost control of the vehicle and mowed down five people. According to doctors, the condition of Ramashray and 10-year-old Keerti is critical.

Local residents blocked the Patna-Aurangabad main road for more than four hours after the accident, protesting against the district administration. Constable Rajeev Roshan and SHO of Mehandiya Police Station Amit Kumar reached the spot along with other police personnel and pacified the protesters.

The SHO said the police seized the truck. "The truck driver managed to flee after the accident. Efforts are on to arrest him," the SHO added. This was the third road accident on NH-139 in the last few weeks.

On Tuesday, three girls who were on their way to their coaching classes were crushed to death after a truck ran over them under the Mehandia police station area. On May 5, five people were killed in a head-on collision between an autorickshaw and a truck near Khokri Mor on the same stretch.