RAIPUR
: Nine persons, including five women and three children, were killed and 23 injured when an overloaded pickup slammed into a parked truck in Bemetara district of Chhattisgarh early Monday morning.
The
victims
were residents of Patharra village and were returning from a family function in Tiraiyya. The pickup was carrying 35 people, mostly women and children.
Police said the driver, who is severely injured, was drunk.
The
accident
took place in Kathia village, 55km from Raipur, around 1.30am. For about 45 minutes, there was chaos and panic as the injured screamed in pain and the dead lay scattered on the road. Eight persons were killed on the spot, while a survivor died during treatment.
The injured persons were admitted to different hospitals. Four of them are critical and have been shifted to AIIMS-Raipur. According to police, the pickup driver claimed he was blinded by the bright headlights of an oncoming truck's headlights.
Chief minister Vishnu Deo Sai condoled the deaths and directed officials to provide the best possible treatment to the injured.
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