Chhattisgarh / Infant among 9 of family killed in auto-SUV collision in Chhattisgarh's Kondagaon

Kondagaon: Nine members of a family were killed and seven more were injured after an autorickshaw they were travelling in collided with an SUV in Chhattisgarh's Kondagaon district on Sunday, police said.

The accident occurred near Borgaon turn under the Farasgaon police station limits, over 200 km away from Raipur, when the occupants of the autorickshaw were returning to their native place, Pandeaath, after attending a funeral in Godma village. The SUV was heading towards Jagdalpur, an official said.

However, after the accident, the occupants of the SUV fled the spot, the official added.

A team of police, including Superintendent of Police Rahul Dev Sharma and Farasgaon SDOP Mani Shankar Chandra, rushed to the spot and immediately rushed the seven injured to Farasgaon Community Health Center.

The deceased members included four women, four men and a 10-month-old baby girl. Of the nine deceased, six occupants in the autorickshaw, including the driver, died on the spot, while three people died during treatment.

The deceased have been identified as Renu (55), Budhni (55), Hira Singh (40), Vijaya (35), Jaggo Bai (30), Dimple (1), Sukoti (60), auto driver Manguram Pradhan / Chaitanya Das (55), and one more.

Of the seven injured, three critically injured persons were referred to Raipur while four others were admitted to Kondagaon hospital, the official said.

Rahul Dev Sharma also reached Farasgaon Hospital to take stock of the injured.

"All the victims belonged to the same family. Their bodies were shifted to the hospital for postmortem," the official said, adding that efforts are on to trace absconding occupants of the SUV.