Kendrapada: A 22-year-old man died, and three women sustained serious injuries when their ambulance crashed into a stationary truck on NH-16 in Odisha’s Jajpur district on Thursday morning.
The deceased, Sheik Samsad Azad from West Bengal’s Paschim Medinipur district, was accompanying his grandmother, Aroti Bibi (74), for treatment at a private hospital in Bhubaneswar.
Dharmasala police station IIC Tapan Nayak said, “The accident occurred at Neulapur chowk when the ambulance driver, who fled the scene, lost control and rear-ended a parked truck. Police suspect rash driving as the cause of the accident.”
The injured women—Aroti and her daughters Manowara Begum (54) and Sanwara Dey (52)—were initially treated at Dharamsala CHC and later transferred to SCB Medical College, Cuttack.
“We have seized both the damaged ambulance and the truck. The victim’s body has been sent to the district govt hospital in Jajpur for post-mortem,” said Nayak. He added that the deceased’s relatives arrived from West Bengal Thursday afternoon after they received the news. An investigation is underway, and efforts are ongoing to locate the absconding driver.