Driver, cleaner found dead inside truck cabin in UP's Bareilly

Bareilly (UP), Jan 16 (PTI) A driver and a cleaner of a tanker truck were found unconscious in the cabin of a tanker parked on the roadside near the Faridpur toll plaza on the Delhi-Lucknow National Highway late on Thursday night, police said.

According to police, both men were rushed to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared them dead.

Bareilly Senior Superintendent of Police Anurag Arya said on Friday that the tanker was travelling from Assam to Rudrapur in Uttarakhand and was loaded with methanol.

Based on preliminary investigation, it is suspected that the driver and the cleaner consumed methanol, possibly in a large quantity, leading to their deaths on the spot.

Arya said that under the seat in the cabin, some bottles were found which were smelling of methanol, leading police to suspect that the two men may have accidentally or for some other reason consumed methanol as liquor.

He, however, added that the cause of death will be determined only after the post-mortem examination.

The tanker belongs to a company in Delhi, and the owner has been informed of the incident.

Fareedpur SHO Radheshyam said that the deceased have been identified as Pushpendra (40), the cleaner of the truck, and driver Surendra (45), both residents of Delhi.

The matter came to light when the employees at the Faridpur toll plaza noticed a tanker parked for a long time, which aroused suspicion, and later, they informed the police. PTI COR NAV AMJ AMJ