Kumarghat "Ulto Rath" tragedy: Death toll reaches 9

The death toll for the tragedy of "Ulto Rath" procession of the ISKCON temple of Kumarghat on Tuesday stands at 9 as one more seriously injured woman succumbed due to her critical burn injuries at a New Delhi based hospital.

Sources said that after the tragic incident on June 28th last, one of the many injured Droupadi Malakar of 91-Mile area of Kumarghat was referred to Unakoti district hospital from Kumarghat hospital and after her condition deteriorated, she was referred to GB Hospital.

After battling for life for many days at the ICU of GB Hospital, Droupadi Malakar, a few days ago Mrs Malakar was referred to a Delhi based hospital for improved treatment, but she breathed her last on Monday night. On the day of the “Ulto Rath” tragedy, the six-year-old son of Droupadi Malakar also died on the spot. On Tuesday, the mortal remains of Droupadi Malakar were brought to her village from Delhi for last rites.

On the ill-fated day of "Ulto Rath", altogether seven persons were killed and as many as 20 more suffered injuries when the chariot of ‘return Rath Yatra’ ISKCON temple struck with 33 KV high tension electric wire in the middle of national highway-8 in Kumarghat area of Unakoti district on June 28 afternoon.

When the ‘return Rath’ with Lord Jagannath, Lord Balaram and Goddess Shubhadra started its journey and reached Kumarghat town hall area via SDM office, the iron made chariot with heavily decorated came into contact with an overhead electric wire, which caused a surge of electricity and killing seven people and injured 20 more due to electrocution.

Those people were engaged with pulling off the chariot from the back side by pressing its iron made bars contacted with high tension electric shock and within seconds their bodies started burning. Amidst massive hue and cry over the pathetic scenes of the burning bodies in the middle of the road, few people boarded at the chariot started jumping from the top the chariot and escaped themselves from electric shock.

Earlier, eight dead persons were identified as Sima Paul (33) of Shibtali, Sushmita Baishya (30) of Shib Mandir area, Rupak Das (40), Soma Biswas (28), Rohan Das (9) ,Shan Malakar (9) , Diya Ghosh (9) and Ratna Rani Dhar (49), who died at the ICU of GB Hospital on July 28th last, all were residents of Kumarghat. Among the critically injured persons, nine were shifted to GB Hospital and among them, three injured persons were also referred to Delhi for better treatment and their treatment cost has been borne by the state government.

So far, the enquiry of the incident ordered by the state government by the District Magistrate (DM) of Unakoti district does not have any progress, though the Kumarghat police station has registered a Suo-Motu FIR, but after passing of many days, till the investigation team does not record the statements of eye witnesses.