NEW DELHI, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Four children including two toddlers were killed after a speeding truck crushed them in eastern Indian state of Jharkhand, police said Tuesday.
The truck overran the children sleeping in the open near a stone crusher on Monday night in Hariharganj of Palamu district, about 239 km northwest of Ranchi, the capital city of Jharkhand.
"Last night a truck overran four children while they were asleep," Rakesh Nandan Minj, a police official told Xinhua over telephone from Hariharganj. "The children belonged to labourers working in the crusher."
Following the accident, the driver left the truck on spot and fled away, police said.
According to police, the victims were identified as two boys aged 10 and 12 years, while as other two small girls aged two years each.
Reports said the labourers had erected makeshift tents for their families near the stone crusher to live in.
There accident evoked widespread resentment among the labourers
Police officials have registered a case and initiated a search to locate the driver and his vehicle.
Deadly road accidents are common in India often due to overloading, bad condition of roads and reckless driving.
India's ministry of road transport in 2015 said 146,133 people were killed and 500,279 others injured in 501,423 road accidents across the country.
