2 killed after taxi, motorcycle catch fire in US Nagar crash

Rudrapur: Two youths travelling on a motorcycle were killed after their bike collided head-on with a taxi and both vehicles caught fire on the Sitarganj-Tanakpur National Highway in Udham Singh Nagar district on Friday morning.

One of the victims was from Nepal, police said.Passersby rushed to the spot and took the injured riders to the Sub-District Hospital in Sitarganj. Dr Kuldeep Yadav, chief medical superintendent of the hospital, said one of them was brought dead, while the other succumbed shortly after admission.Sub-inspector Prem Singh said one of the deceased was identified as Rahul Lakshya, a resident of Nepal, through hospital records and documents recovered from him.

“Efforts are underway to identify the second victim and trace their families,” he said.Eyewitnesses said the impact of the collision was so severe that both the motorcycle and the taxi caught fire within moments. The blaze also disrupted traffic on the highway until fire brigade personnel brought it under control and traffic was restored.Police said the taxi driver and other occupants fled the spot after the accident. Preliminary findings suggest overspeeding may have led to the collision, while the fire is suspected to have intensified because the taxi was running on CNG.

In a separate accident late on Thursday night, 28-year-old Nadeem Ahmad, a resident of Shergarh in Bareilly, died after the Ertiga car in which he was travelling was hit by an unidentified vehicle near Mahatosh Mor in Gadarpur. Six others — Imran (30), Mobina (50), Mannat (3), Nathiya (70), Anjum (29) and another occupant — were seriously injured and were undergoing treatment at a private hospital. The family was returning from the Kaliyar shrine.