Six killed, nine injured in four road accidents
PATHANKOT: Six people were killed while nine were injured in three road accidents in the state and another involving a Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) bus in Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh on Sunday.
In one of incidents, an Amritsar man was killed and six others, including the driver, were injured when a PRTC bus skidded off the road and plunged into a 100-metre gorge at Dagoh, 35km from Dalhousie in Chamba district. The bus with 10 occupants was en route to Patiala in Punjab from Dalhousie .
The deceased has been identified as Jagdish Chand. The injured were rushed to Shri Harigiri Hospital in Balkloh.
Chamba superintendent of police (SP) Monica Bhutunguru said that the driver lost control while negotiating a sharp curve. The eyewitnesses, however, told police that the bus was overspeeding.
At around 6.20 in the morning, a police team from the Bakloh police post reached the spot and rescued the occupants of the bus with the help of locals.
A case under Section 279 (rash driving), 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others and 304A (causing death by negligence) was registered against the driver, Shamsher Singh of Tarn Taran, at Chuwari police station.
COUPLE CRUSHED TO DEATH
In the second accident, a couple was run over by a speeding truck at the Mammoon cantonment area in Pathankot.
The deceased has been identified as Prem Chand of Karoli village, a retired lineman of PSEB electricity department and his wife Sheela Devi. Prem was riding a scooter on which his wife was pillion rider. The police said that reportedly Prem lost control over the vehicle due to deep potholes and fell on the road, after which a speeding truck knocked them down and they were crushed to death.
The police said that the truck has been impounded and the driver has been taken into custody.
WOMAN-DAUGHTER KILLED IN TANDA
In another incident, a woman and her daughter lost their lives in a car accident at Tanda town on Pathankot-Jalandhar national highway, while her husband and son are undergoing a treatment at a hospital in Hoshiarpur.
The deceased have been identified as Navita Sharma, a teacher, and her daughter Pranjhal Sharma, a resident of Salaria Nagar in Pathankot.
The police said in attempt to save a stray animal, the car driver lost his control and hit a tree on the roadside.
TRUCK RUNS OVER 2 IN BATHINDA, ONE DIES
A 28-year-old resident of Yamunanagar, Vinod Kumar, employed with a mobile tower company, was killed when a truck ran over men sleeping in a cot outside a dhaba on the Bathinda-Dabwali road near Gurusar Sainewala about 5am on Sunday. Another man Rajesh Kumar was injured in the accident.
Police have arrested truck driver Gurtej Singh of Rampura Phul and booked him under section 304-A (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code.
ASI Lachhman Singh said that the men worked with a mobile tower firm and used to take rest outside the dhaba, whenever they happened to be in the area for work. “The truck driver was reversing the vehicle and failed to notice the cot that the men were resting on. The vehicle crushed the head of Kumar,” said the ASI