GUWAHATI, Nov 14: A 38-year-old man from Bihar was among 26 people killed in a road accident at Rangajan in Kaziranga, officials said.
The deceased was identified as Mohammad Rafiq Ali, son of Shami Ahmed and a resident of Tufanpur in Bihar's Madhubani district.
The Golaghat district administration said it had confirmed the identities of 23 of the 25 bodies for which it had received details. The identities of two victims remained unknown. One of the two injured persons who later died at Jorhat Medical College Hospital was also yet to be identified.
Additional deputy commissioner Jintu Bora said the 25 bodies included 14 women and 11 men. Two injured persons who had been shifted to Jorhat Medical College Hospital for advanced treatment later died, taking the toll to 26.
Among the dead were nine people from Nagaon district and one from Karbi Anglong district, Bora said. Post-mortem examinations were to begin at 6 am on Saturday, with teams from Jorhat Medical College and Gauhati Medical College conducting the process. The administration also arranged vehicles to take the bodies to their homes with dignity.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed condolences and announced an ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh each from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund for the next of kin of those killed and Rs 50,000 for the injured. President Droupadi Murmu, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma also expressed grief over the accident.
The accident occurred on Friday when a passenger vehicle collided with a container truck at Rangajan in Kaziranga.
