TRUCK CARRYING BUFFALOES OVERTURNS NEAR HAUZ KHAS

NEWDELHI: A truck carrying buffaloes overturned near south Delhi’s Hauz Khas Metro station in the early hours of Thursday, leaving two of the bovines dead and four injured. The accident led to traffic snarls on the Outer Ring Road during the morning rush hour as the buffaloes and the overturned truck remained on the roadside for almost 10 hours.

Chinmoy Biswal, Additional DCP (South), said the truck driver and others in the damaged vehicle fled the spot after the accident. “The truck bears a Gujarat registration number, but we are yet to find out where it was coming from and if the animals were being transported legally,” said Biswal.

The snarls continued till Thursday afternoon. Traffic police officers said they were forced to block Aurobindo Marg and Daleep Singh Marg, leading to Hauz Khas Metro station from 8am for three hours, resulting in at least a 3-km-long traffic jam.

The vehicles crossing that stretch were forced to crawl soon after the truck had overturned at around 2am. But the situation turned worse as the day picked up. The jams eased out post afternoon when authorities arrived at the spot and removed the animals. The accident happened right opposite Laxman Public School in Hauz Khas. A few workers from the school were seen managing around a dozen buffaloes till late on Thursday morning before the civic agency officials could reach the spot.

The school workers cut leaves and grass for the buffaloes, brought water and even tried to protect the animals from the heat.