UP: 18 KILLED, 25 INJURED AFTER TRUCK HITS BUS

Barabanki (UP), July 28: At least 18 people were killed and

25 injured after a truck rammed into a stationary double-decker bus here, police said on Wednesday.

The accident took place on the Lucknow-Ayodhya highway under the Ram Sanehi Ghat area late on Tuesday night. It was raining heavily when the accident took place and this posed some problems in the rescue operation, a senior police official said.

The private bus was carrying over 130 passengers to Bihar from Punjab and Haryana, police said. The axle of the bus broke and it was parked on the road when a speeding truck coming from behind hit it, killing 18 people and injuring

25, police said. Some passengers were standing or resting outside the bus and others were sitting inside when the accident took place.

While 11 people died on the spot, seven died on the way to the hospital, they said.

The victims, mostly labourers from Bihar, were returning home after sowing paddy in Punjab and Haryana, police said. Police rushed to the spot after receiving information and the rescue operation was carried out with the help of locals. The injured were rushed to a local hospital and from there those with serious injuries were shifted to a trauma centre in Lucknow, additional director general of police (Lucknow Zone) S.N. Sabat said.

Recalling the fateful night, bus passengers Sitaram and Mauji Lal said they were saved as they had stepped out of the vehicle while a mechanic was repairing the axle.