Two police constables from Puri district lost their lives, and three others—including an Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI), a home guard, and the driver—sustained critical injuries after an iron-laden trailer collided head-on with their van in Odisha’s Bhadrak district late Thursday night.
The deceased personnel have been identified as constables Prashant Bag (38) and Himanshu Ray (35). The injured officers have been identified as ASI Dibya Ranjan Sahu (32), Home Guard Prashant Jena, and the van driver. All five victims belong to the Astaranga police station area in Puri district.
According to reports, the five-member police team had travelled from Astaranga to Dhamra in Bhadrak district late last night as part of an ongoing operation to bust a mobile phone theft racket. While returning or moving along the Bhadrak-Dhamra road near Biras in the Basudevpur area, their van collided head-on with an oncoming iron-laden trailer.
The severe impact left all five occupants of the police vehicle critically injured. Local rescuers and police immediately rushed the victims to the Basudevpur Community Health Centre, from where they were shifted to the Bhadrak District Headquarters Hospital.
Doctors at the Bhadrak hospital declared one of the constables dead upon arrival, while the remaining four were referred to SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack due to their deteriorating condition. Tragically, the second constable succumbed to his injuries while en route to Cuttack. The other three injured personnel are currently undergoing intensive treatment in Kataka.
