Not a Dry Eye in This Village as Locals Prepare to Cremate All 26 Victims of Kanpur Tragedy Together

There was not a dry eye at this village that lost 26 people, mostly women and children, to a tragic accident after tractor-trolley overturned and fell into a pond near a village in Kanpur district of Uttar Pradesh on Saturday evening.

CNN-News18 visited the Kortha village in Kanpur district and spoke to the grieving families. Dead bodies were placed in front of every second house in the village. Tears and heartbreak filled the streets as they said their final goodbyes to their family members. The bodies of all 26 victims are to be transported 40 kilometers away in 16 ambulances where all the 26 bodies would be cremated together.

The incident took place on Saturday near Bhadeuna village located within the Saar police station limits when the vehicle, carrying about 50 people, was on its way to Ghatampur as the passengers were returning from Chandrika Devi temple in Fatehpur. A dozen people were critically injured and are currently undergoing treatment.

“We lost six people from our family including our mother and brother,” a villager told CNN-News18. “Tragic that one accident wiped families of an entire area. Some 26 people from this one Mohalla just gone. I came here to pay my respects and let people know that the government is here to help every single family,” BJP Leader Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti said.

The ADG of Kanpur, Bhanu Bhaskar told CNN-News18 that seven people are in critical condition adding that people at the accident site played a critical role in saving as many people as possible before the ambulance reached the spot.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday expressed anguish and announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh for next of kin of each of the deceased and Rs 50,000 for those injured.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath appealed to the people to use tractor-trolley only for agricultural works and freight and said it should not be used to transport passengers.

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