A routine anti-crime operation ended in tragedy late Thursday night when two police personnel lost their lives in a horrific head-on collision in Odisha's Bhadrak district.
A five-member team from the Astaranga Police Station in Puri had traveled to Dhamara to investigate a stolen mobile phone racket. While returning, their police van collided violently with an iron-loaded trailer truck near Birasa on the Bhadrak-Dhamara road.
The impact left all five occupants critically injured. Local residents and police rushed them to the Basudevpur Community Health Centre before transferring them to the District Headquarters Hospital in Bhadrak, where constable Prashant Bag (38) was declared dead.
The remaining four, including ASI Dibyaranjan Sahu, Home Guard Prashant Jena, another constable, and the van driver, were referred to SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack. Tragically, constable Himanshu Ray (35) succumbed to his injuries en route to Cuttack.
The three survivors are currently receiving medical treatment at SCB Medical College. The unexpected tragedy has cast a profound pall of gloom over the entire police department.