At least one person died and another was injured after an 11-KV electricity line fell onto a moving passenger vehicle near Umkiang in Meghalaya’s East Jaintia Hills district late Monday night, triggering a fire.
The vehicle was travelling towards the Barak Valley along the Barak-Guwahati connecting National Highway when the high-voltage line reportedly came down onto it, setting the vehicle ablaze.
The fire quickly spread through the vehicle, trapping passengers inside. Witnesses at the scene feared that several people could have died, although authorities had confirmed one fatality and one injured passenger at the time of reporting.
The total number of passengers travelling in the vehicle and the overall number of casualties remained unclear.
Meghalaya Police and Fire and Emergency Services personnel rushed to the site after receiving information about the incident and brought the blaze under control.
The identity of the deceased and the condition of the injured passenger were yet to be ascertained. Authorities were also expected to investigate the circumstances that caused the 11-KV line to fall onto the vehicle.
