From truck to toxic ditch, 16 from UP blinded in accident

As many as 16 daily wage labourers lost their eyesight after their overloaded mini truck fell into a ditch filled with some ‘water-like’ chemical...

As many as 16 daily wage labourers lost their eyesight after their overloaded mini truck fell into a ditch filled with some ‘water-like’ chemical in Swar area of Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur district on Thursday. All of them were brought to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi on Friday after being referred by doctors at the government hospitals at Bajpur, Rudrapur and Haldwani districts.

Deputy Chief Medical Officer (Rampur), Dr Sanjay Sabarwal said that all they were referred to AIIMS “because there was a possibility of cornea transplant there.” Apart from those admitted to AIIMS, 15 others were also hurt

in the incident and were admitted to local hospitals in Haldwani and Rudrapur districts.

Dr Namrata Sharma, casualty in-charge at AIIMS’s R P Centre who examined the 16 labourers, said all of them had suffered moderate to severe alkali burns in the eyes. “Some of them may recover later after treatment. Some of them even have burns on their necks, face and hands.”

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Binod Kumar and Om Prakash, cousins from the Rampur district, had never heard of the AIIMS, until they were rushed to the hospital in the national capital on Friday morning. Writhing in pain, they uttered with swollen lips the accounts of their close shave with death on Thursday morning when the vehicle carrying them to Ram Nager in Uttarakhand skidded off a muddy route along the Bagpur-Tanda road in Swar area and fell into a ditch. That ditch was later found to be filled with a chemical that burnt their eyes.

“Due to an under-construction bridge on the road, their truck took a makeshift road and while trying to maneuver the route, it skidded, overturned and fell in the ditch,” Tulsi Ram, who accompanied son Om Prakash to AIIMS, said.

According to information available in Lucknow, on April 29, a tanker carrying chemical got stuck on the muddy route near the same spot. While a JCB machine tried to pull it out, knob of the tanker got damaged and the chemical fell and accumulated in the near-by pit.

“Since the chemical looked like water, nobody took it seriously,” District Magistrate Niteshwar Kumar said. “Those who fell in the mud even tried to clean themselves with the chemical, thinking it was water. But after some time, they had burning sensation and developed blisters,” Inspector A A Zaidi of Swar police station added.

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Though the Rampur DM claimed that he was not informed about any of the injured losing eyesight, ASP Prabal Pratap Singh said only four persons were blinded in the mishap.

Meanwhile, the UP Government has sanctioned financial assistance for the seriously injured persons, and a high-level inquiry has been ordered. The chemical found in the pit has also been sent for test in a lab in Agra. Moradabad Commissioner Uma Dhar Dwivedi, who is conducting an enquiry into the incident, said: “We are providing free medical aid to the injured persons and bearing their medical expenses.” Superintendent of Police (Rampur) V B Singh said: “A case has been registered against the jeep driver who is absconding.”