Jharsuguda: Two personnel of the Odisha State Armed Police (OSAP) were killed and 29 injured, seven of them seriously, when a speeding truck collided head-on with a van in which they were travelling on Friday morning.
The incident took place near a filling station at Lakhanpur on National Highway-49 near Belpahar in Odisha’s Jharsuguda district.
The two deceased cops have been identified as Prashant Behera and Shankar Prasad Panth. While Behera is a native of Puri district, the native place of Panth was not known till reports last came in.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik expressed profound grief at the death of the two personnel and conveyed his sympathy to the bereaved families. He wished the speedy recovery of the injured cops and ordered their free treatment. Apart from this, he announced financial assistance of Rs 1 lakh for the injured personnel if threatened with disability. He also announced an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh to each family of the deceased and assured a government job to one family member of the deceased.
According to sources, the accident took place at around 6.30 AM when a group of trainee OSAP personnel of the 2nd Battalion at Jharsuguda were on the way to Banharpalli near Belpahar to join their duty for the visit of the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik who will inaugurate two new thermal power generation units of the Odisha Power Generation Corporation (OPGC).
The Belpahara police, which rushed to the spot soon after the mishap, said that while two cops died on the spot, 29 others were injured of whom 15 have been admitted to the MCL Central Hospital at Mandlia in Brajarajnagar while 14 have been admitted to the TRL Hospital at Belpahar. Seven of them have been transferred to VSS Institute of Medical Sciences & Research in Burla after their condition worsened. The Chief Minister will visit the injured jawans at the hospital later in the day.
