Incomplete overflight leads to the death of a couple in Durg of Chattisgarh

A couple have been killed while their 12-year-old daughter was seriously injured after the car they were traveling plunged from an unfinished flyover on the Durg-Raipur road in Chhattisgarh on Saturday.

The car fell into a pit about 30 feet. Aajuram Dewangan (46), who was driving the two-wheeler, and his wife Nirmala (42) died instantly, while their daughter Annu (12) was seriously injured, police said. The girl was taken to a hospital in Kumhari from where she was transferred to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Raipur.

The official said missing warning signs and barricades led to the couple’s deaths. The incident occurred on the bridge under construction on National Road 53.

The accident happened in Kumhari town of Durg district on Friday night as the victims were returning home to Raipur after attending a wedding in Janjgiri (Durg) village, said the Superintendent of Police of town (Chhawani region) Prabhat Kumar, PTI reported.

“One lane of the flyover had been completed earlier and opened to vehicular traffic, while construction of the other lane was underway. As no signage or detour barrier was placed, the motorcyclist rode on the track under construction and fell from a height of about 30 feet,” the official said.

Later, when police put a barrier in the lane after the accident, a high-speed car entered the same lane and fell off the dead end of the bridge, Mr Kumar said.

However, the driver of the car, who was alone in the vehicle, escaped unscathed due to the airbags, he said.

Police registered a case under sections 304 (culpable homicide not constituting murder) and 337 (injury by an act endangering the life or personal safety of others) of the Indian Penal Code, the official said.