6 killed as van crashes into truck in UP

Hapur: Six people, including the driver, were killed and four others sustained grave injuries when the car they were travelling in crashed into a stationery truck in Uttar Pradesh’s Hapur district today, police said.

The Maruti Eeco van with 11 passengers was on its way to Sambhal from Delhi when it met with the accident on National Highway 9 near Garhmukteshwar at around 4 am. Police said the driver may have dozed off at the wheel.

According to Superintendent of Police, Rammohan Singh, while five passengers were killed on the spot, the sixth occupant succumbed to his injuries in the hospital.

All the bodies were sent for post-mortem. Only the body of Shah Alam, a resident of Sambhal was identified while efforts were being made to find out the names of the others, Singh said. 

The injured include Rifaqat Atta and Shaan Muhammad from Sambhal and Aarif and Nafees, residents of Ajmer in Rajasthan. The families of the victims have been informed, Singh said. 

According to eye-witnesses, the impact of the accident reduced the van to a heap of mangled metal trapping the passengers inside. The police faced an uphill task as they extricated the bodies with the help of the locals.

People in the vicinity claimed to have heard a loud bang believed to be of the car crashing into the truck, police said.