Patna: A 45-year-old man died and four others sustained serious injuries when a speeding car collided head-on with a truck parked on the roadside near Damarchak village under the Naubatpur police station area of Patna district on Monday morning. The impact was so severe that the car was completely mangled.The accident occurred on NH-131G (Bihta–Sarmera road) when five devotees were returning home in a car after offering water to Lord Shiva at Guptadham in Kaimur (Rohtas) on the occasion of Mahashivratri. Police identified the deceased as Pankaj Kumar Chaurasia, a resident of Bhootnath, Patna. The injured — Raju Kumar Gupta (45), Munna, Khushi Kumari, and the driver Santosh Kumar — are residents of the Gaighat area in Patna.Local residents immediately rushed to the spot, rescued the victims, and took them to the Naubatpur referral hospital. Owing to the severity of their injuries, all four were later referred to AIIMS Patna A team from Naubatpur police station also reached the spot and sent the body for post-mortem.SHO Manjeet Thakur said, “The accident occurred around 9am. The car was speeding towards Bihta. Preliminary findings suggest the driver may have dozed off due to fatigue from the long return journey, leading to loss of control and the collision with the stationary truck. The truck driver fled the spot with the vehicle soon after the crash.”
