26 hurt as 2 buses catch fire after collision near Pathankot
Incident took place around 5 am; the buses were Kaithal and Chamba bound
SHIMLA : Sixty five passengers were injured when two buses of the Haryana and Himachal roadways caught fire after a head-on collision at Damtal near Pathankot on Tuesday.
The incident took place around 3am when the Haryana Roadways bus (HR 64 9065) was on its way from Katra to Kaithal and the Himachal Roadways bus (HP 38 E 2605) was on its way from Delhi to Chamba. Police said a couple of passengers received minor burn injuries.
The Haryana Roadways bus driver lost control over the vehicle which hit a parapet before colliding with the other bus, it was learnt.
Damtal, nearly 90 kilometres from district headquarters Dharamshala, is located on the Himachal-Punjab border. There were more than 20 passengers in the Haryana Roadways bus and the Himachal Roadways bus was carrying over 45 people.
An army convoy, passing the accident spot on NH-1 , helped in rescuing passengers from the bus. Kandwal police station chowki in-charge Ishwar Dass, who had rushed to the spot, said the injured were admitted to civil hospital at Pathankot in Punjab.
Meanwhile senior medical officer (SMO) Pathankot civil hospital Dr Bhupinder Singh claimed that all the injured were out of danger. The driver of Himachal Roadways bus who had sustained major injuries was also out of danger, he added.
Himachal Pradesh police registered a case of negligent driving and started investigations.