4 cricketers killed, 2 injured after car rams truck on Purvanchal Expressway | Lucknow News

Three tennis players lost their lives after their car collided with a truck on Purvanchal Expressway.

LUCKNOW: Four young cricketers were killed and two others seriously injured after their Maruti Ertiga rammed into the rear of an unidentified truck on the Purvanchal Expressway in Sultanpur early Wednesday morning.The accident occurred around 5:15 am near Sukhbaderi under the Dhanpatganj police station area. The six-member group was returning to Deoria from Lucknow after playing a cricket match.The deceased have been identified as Nitya Prajapati (22), Irfan Ansari (20), Aniket (24) and Anand Yadav (23). The injured are Raju (22) and Jayanto Sharma (30), who were shifted to Medical College, Darshan Nagar, after initial treatment at Kumar Ganj hospital.Sultanpur SP Vineet Jaiswal told TOI that the group was returning after playing a match in Lucknow when the unfortunate incident took place.Their team captain Mohit Pandey said the four victims were talented players who regularly played private cricket matches. “Aniket was a fine all-rounder, much like Kapil Dev. Nitya Prajapati and Irfan were fine batters, while Anand Yadav was a fast bowler,” Pandey said.According to injured passenger Jayanto Sharma, also a player, all six occupants were asleep during the journey and did not know how the car collided with the truck.UPEIDA security personnel rushed to the spot and evacuated the injured. Police have launched an investigation and are searching for the unidentified truck.