16 dead in Punjab, Haryana mishaps
PILGRIMS MEET TRAGEDY 12 people, including three women, injured; the vehicle was returning from Haridwar in U’khand
Sixteen persons, including 12 pilgrims, were killed and 22 injured in road accidents across Punjab and Haryana on Monday.
Seven pilgrims were killed and 12 injured when a pickup van they were travelling in collided with a truck near Dhakwala village on the Meerut-Karnal road. The police said the vehicle carrying the pilgrims from Karnal was returning from Haridwar in Uttarakhand.
In Hisar, a 65-year-old woman and her grandson were killed while nine others received injuries when a mini-van overturned after hitting a stray animal in Hansi sub-division. Nine persons were injured in the accident.
Three persons, including a father-son duo, were killed after their bike collided with a minibus and caught fire near Kathar village in Adampur town on the Jalandhar-Hoshiarpur highway. The deceased are Jagnal Chaudhary, 33, his son Sahil, 4, and Govind, 35. They were returning after paying obeisance at the Chintpurni shrine.
In Moga, two cousins were crushed under a truck after their motorbike skidded on a road.
Two persons were killed when the motorcycle they were riding rammed into a stationary tractor-trailer near Lubana village in Nabha.
Seven people were killed and 12 got injured when the pickup van they were travelling in collided with a truck near Dhakwala village on the MeerutKarnal road near here on Monday morning.
The police said the vehicle carrying the pilgrims from Karnal was returning from Haridwar in Uttarakhand. Reports said 21 people were travelling in the van. The truck driver fled from the spot.
All deceased, except one Bihar migrant, belonged to Karnal town. One person died on the spot whereas others were declared dead at hospital, police said. The injured have been admitted to the Kalpana Chawla Government Medical College.
They dead were identified as Rajat, Vikas and Sanjeev of Mangalpur (Karnal), Sudhakar of Newal (Karnal), Inder Singh of Nagla Megha (Karnal), Ranjeet of Samastipur in Bihar and pick-up driver Ravinder of Karnal.
Those among injured are Sujata of Newal, Guddi Devi of Durga Colony, Krishna of Mohdinpur, Amit of Shiv Colony, Sudhanshu of Karan Vihar, Ajay of Pundrak, Rohit, Sethpal, Nikhil, Sagar, Rahul and Deshraj of Mangal Colony, all localities in Karnal.
Pawan Kumar, an eyewitness, said the truck and the pick up van had a head-on collision around 7am. Local residents said the road was narrow and it has become accident prone due to a sharp turn.
Accidents take place frequently due to heavy traffic on the road which connects Haryana with Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, they said.
“We reached the spot soon after we got information about the accident. We do not have any information as how the accident took place,” said Bhupinder Singh, a police official deployed in Karnal. A case under section 304-A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered in this connection.