Ten people, including two women, were killed after a speeding truck rammed into a Tata Magic van on the Lakhimpur-Bahraich National Highway-730 (NH-730) between Unchgaon and Bharehta villages, under the Isanagar police station area, in Lakhimpur Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh on Monday morning, police said. All those killed, including the driver, were in the van.
The accident took place around 7.30 am, nearly 40 kilometres from the district headquarters, officials said.
Lakhimpur Kheri district magistrate Anjani Kumar Singh told reporters that the van collided with the truck coming from the opposite direction, leading to nine casualties on the spot, while one succumbed to injuries at the district hospital.
Dhaurhara circle officer (CO) Shamsher Bahadur Singh said the truck was seized and efforts were underway to trace the absconding driver.
“The collision was extremely severe. Police teams reached the spot immediately after receiving information. The truck was taken into custody and a search was on for the driver, who fled after the accident,” the circle officer said.
Khamaria community health centre superintendent Dr Amit Kumar Singh said nine victims, including two women and seven men, were brought dead to the community health centre, while another critically injured man later succumbed during treatment at the district hospital.
“Several bodies were badly crushed due to the impact of the collision. One critically injured man was referred to the district hospital, where he later died,” Dr Singh said.
Lakhimpuri Kheri senior superintendent of police Khyati Garg initially said nine of the deceased, including two women, were identified.
She added that those killed included six people from Bahraich district – Jaiveer Singh (25) of Mangaunrhia village, Pawan Kumar (23) and Sohan (21), brothers from Ramvachanpurwa village,
Rajesh Goyal (45) of Mihipurwa, Sahajram (35) of Kakarha and Pappu (18) of Devdattapur village – Gayatri Vaishya (44), a school teacher from Vijay Lakshmi Nagar locality in Sitapur, Adnan (19) of Sisaiya village and Zulekha (55) of Paltupurwa village, both from Lakhimpur Kheri district.
The tenth deceased was later identified as Kailash Verma, 40, of Dhaurhara in Lakhimpur Kheri district.
The impact of the collision dragged the Magic vehicle nearly 10 feet from the collision point. Eyewitnesses said several passengers suffered severe head injuries, while some became trapped between the seats. Two occupants were reportedly thrown out onto the road due to the force of the crash.
Residents rushed to the spot and informed police before rescue operations were launched. Police later sent the bodies for post-mortem examination and initiated further investigation into the incident.
PRESIDENT, PM, CM EXPRESS GRIEF; MODI, YOGI ANNOUNCE RELIEF
President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath have expressed grief over the deaths in the Lakhimpur Kheri accident.
Modi announced an ex gratia of ₹2 lakh from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund to the next of kin of each deceased and ₹50,000 to those injured. Adityanath also announced a compensation of ₹2 lakh for the families of each of the deceased.
“Deeply pained to hear about a mishap in Lakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh. My condolences to those who have lost their loved ones. May the injured recover at the earliest. An ex gratia of ₹2 lakh from PMNRF would be given to the next of kin of each deceased. The injured would be given ₹50,000,” Modi said in a post on X.
The President said the loss of lives in the road accident is extremely heartbreaking and offered condolences to the bereaved families.
“The news of the loss of lives in the road accident that occurred in Lakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh, is extremely heartbreaking. I express my deepest condolences to the families who have lost their loved ones in this accident. I pray for the swift recovery of those who have been injured,” Murmu said in a post on X in Hindi.
Through a post on his X account, Adityanath expressed his condolences on the tragic accident and instructed the district authorities to provide prompt assistance to the aggrieved families.
“The loss of life in the unfortunate road accident in the Lakhimpur Kheri district is deeply distressing and heart-wrenching. My condolences are with the bereaved families.
“I have directed the local administration to provide prompt and adequate assistance to the injured and the victims. I pray to Lord Shri Ram to grant the departed souls a place at his divine feet and to bestow a speedy recovery upon the injured,” Adityanath said in a post on X.
PROMISING LIVES, CAREERS CUT SHORT
The tragic accident on NH-730 on Monday morning cut short the lives and careers of an engineer, a businessman, a government teacher and two teenagers.
Gayatri Vaishya, a 44-year-old government school teacher, travelled home to Sitapur out of love for her son. She was initially supposed to return home from Bahraich, where lived on rent, on May 20 when the summer vacation was supposed to begin.
However, when she learned her son had returned from college, she visited her Sitapur home on Saturday to meet him, despite her husband advising her to wait until after the summer vacations began.
Her journey tragically ended as she was returning to school on Monday morning to resume her duties at Raybhojhna village in Bahraich.
Jaiveer Singh (25), an engineer with a power company in Mumbai, was returning to Bahraich to celebrate his promotion before joining his post abroad.
According to his uncle and brother, Jaiveer’s flight abroad was scheduled for May 21. However, he was killed in the van-truck collision on Monday morning.
Rajesh Goyal, a 45-year-old businessman from Mihirpurwa in Bahraich, was returning home on Monday morning after visiting his sister in Lakhimpur when the accident claimed his life.
Adnan, 19, who took a window seat in the ill-fated van returning to Sisaiya village from Ramapur in Lakhimpur, died in the mishap.
Pappu, 18, a daily-wage labourer supporting his family, had called his brother early that morning to confirm he had boarded the van.
Pappu’s mother Munni Devi was in tears at the post-mortem house, saying the entire family was waiting for his return before fate intervened.
ACCIDENT-PRONE STRETCH ON NH-730
The National Highway-730 stretch between Lakhimpur and Dhaurahra tehsils has increasingly become prone to fatal accidents over recent months.
On May 7,2026, an auto-rickshaw with eight passengers onboard had collided head on with a truck at Aira bridge, killing five persons, including the auto driver, and injuring three others. Over-speeding was suspected to be the cause of the accident.
On February 8, 2026, a speeding auto-rickshaw carrying 10 persons overturned and fell into a roadside ditch after striking the railing of a river bridge leading to four casualties and six injuries.
On May 26, 2024, a Tata Magic van collided head-on with a UP roadways bus, killing five people and injuring seven others.
On January 28,2023, a speeding truck mowed down six persons near Nakha village, who had assembled on NH-730 roadside to watch a car accident.
On Sep 28,2022: Ten people were killed while over three dozen were left injured in a head-on collision between a private bus and a mini-truck on the Sharda bridge in Aira under Isanagar police limits.
This stretch of NH-730 passes through the area between Sharda and Ghaghra rivers. Fog on the road during winter makes vehicular movement even more risky.
