StatesUttar Pradesh
Three electrocuted in Gorakhpur as Durga immersion trolley touches high-tension line
A rod on the tractor trolley carrying the idol struck an overhead line at Rajhi crossing in the Gulriha area on Wednesday evening. Ten people were hurt, several with burns.
Key points
- Three people died and ten were injured during a Durga idol immersion procession in Gorakhpur.
- A long rod on the idol's tractor trolley touched an overhead high-tension line.
- Power had been cut along the route but was restored as the trolley reached the crossing, locals said.
Three people were killed and ten injured on Wednesday evening when a tractor trolley carrying a Durga idol for immersion came into contact with an overhead high-tension power line in Gorakhpur, in eastern Uttar Pradesh.
The procession was passing near Ayodhya Prasad Chauhan Tola in the Gulriha police station area when a long rod fixed to the trolley struck the line at Rajhi crossing. People riding on the trolley took the full force of the current. Several of them suffered burns, and some of the injured were said to be in a serious condition.
Police and district officials reached the spot and the injured were taken to the medical college in Gorakhpur for treatment. The names of the dead had not been released by late on Wednesday.
Residents at the scene said the power department had switched off supply along the route earlier in the evening, but that it had been restored just as the trolley reached the crossing. Had the line stayed dead, they said, the accident could have been avoided. The deaths have raised questions about the safety arrangements made for the procession.
The administration had not said by late Wednesday whether an inquiry would be ordered into why supply was restored, or whether the families of the dead would receive compensation.
The deaths come at the close of a festival week that has seen other immersion accidents, among them the drowning of four young men in a canal in Kota, Rajasthan, on Tuesday evening.