Resubelpara, May 9: Two people lost their lives on the spot while another 5 are said to be critically injured after a vehicle had turned turtle while returning from a picnic in the picturesque Rongma Gittil under Kharkutta C&RD Block in North Garo Hills (NGH).
Almost all other occupants (at least 30 of them) of the vehicle suffered minor injuries due to the accident.
The incident occurred this afternoon at about 3:30 PM when the returning vehicle lost control due to an apparent break failure leading to the vehicle overturning.
The two deceased have been identified as Lokat K Sangma and Hejalson G Momin, both of whom were in their 60s. The deceased along with those injured belong to the village of Silluk in Assam. The picnic group consisted of only males.
As per police reports, the group had gone to the tourist spot for a picnic from the local Church of Silluk in Assam’s Goalpara. The area borders the state at NGH.
“We rushed to the spot after informing the Kharkutta PHC of the accident, asking them to send ambulances to take care of the injured. Those with minor injuries are currently being treated at the PHC itself,” informed one of the police officers who helped in the rehabilitation of the injured.
Those with critical injuries were referred to hospitals in Goalpara where they are currently undergoing treatment. The condition of one of those referred is said to be critical.
Meanwhile the incident today has shown the poor state of rural infrastructure after frenetic attempts were made to secure ambulances to help those with critical injuries.
As per information received, the Kharkutta PHC only has one ambulance to cater to critical injuries. Further with 108 services only being available in Rari and Mendipathar in the district, it fell drastically short of what was required.
It was only with the help of locals, including the former MLA of Kharkutta, Cherak Momin, that ambulances were arranged from elsewhere, including Assam, that the critically injured could be taken to Goalpara.
“We were able to arrange 3 ambulances to take those injured as the number of emergency vehicles in the PHC were inadequate. There is an absolute need to build rural health infrastructure so that such incidents are not repeated. Even a five minute delay could mean life or death and lives cannot be endangered this way,” said Cherak.
