8 killed in truck-van crash near Surat

Deepak Khasatia,an eyewitness,said he stopped another passing truck and called locals from his village for help. The truck (GJ-5V-5986) which had rammed into the van,was pulled back to rescue the passengers.

Soon,local police also arrived and six bodies were pulled out from the mangled van while six others were rushed to the hospital in Surat. Of the six,two were declared brought dead. The truck driver and cleaner fled the spot.

The deceased were identified as van driver Naresh Patel (37),Damyanti Mohan Patel (52),Priyank Kamlesh Sawalia (22),Samiulla Ansari (55),all residents of Sayan in Olpad,Shanta Prabhu Chauhan (64),resident of Kim village in Olpad,Sabir Pathan (48),resident of Ankleshwar,Malika Mahendra Khalasi (42) resident of Bharuch,Geeta Chhagan Patel (65),resident of Sandhier in Olpad. The injured have been identified as Daksha Rajesh Patel (38),her sister Kajal Rajesh Patel (17),Padma Chandu Rathod (32),all residents of Sandhier village and Bhavika Khalasi (17),a resident of Bharuch.

A complaint was lodged by eyewitness Deepak Khasatia with Olpad police station on Tuesday afternoon.

Olpad Sub-Inspector D K Vasawa said,“The condition of the four is critical. We are trying to identify the truck driver and cleaner who are still at large. The bodies were handed over to their relatives after postmortem.”