Young lives lost: Pall of gloom in Rampura Phul
BHUCHO TRAGEDY Town shuts down as six of nine people crushed by a truck on Wednesday were from the town; four girl students among those killed
BATHINDA: A pall of gloom descended on Rampura Phul after the news came that six of the nine people that were crushed by a truck near Bhucho on Wednesday morning belonged to the town.
The victims included five students, four of them girls, who were on way to their college while the sixth was a 25-year-old woman employee of food and civil supplies department.
The town witnessed a shutdown after the news of the tragedy came soon after the accident caused by low visibility due to the prevailing smog in the region.
Traders closed their business establishments as the identity of the deceased was established.
The victims were identified as Vinod Kumar Mittal, 18, Shikha, 17, Khushvir Kaur, 20, Jaspreet Kaur, 18, Nancy, 19, and Lovepreet Kaur, 25, — all residents of various localities of Rampura Phul.
Shikha and Khushvir were students of the Government Rajindra College while Jaspreet, Vinod and Nancy were enrolled in the local DAV College. Lovepreet Kaur was an employee of the food and civil supplies department.
Meanwhile, some of the injured undergoing treatment at the Bathinda civil hospital did not even know about the fate of their fellow students killed in the tragedy.
Unaware of the death of two of his college mates, injured Jagmohan Singh, 21, a student of the DAV College, was asking for their well-being.
“Jaspreet and Nancy were also there. We are students of the same college. I hope they are alright,” he said.
Jagmohan recalled the horror he went through as the tragedy struck on Wednesday morning.
“As our private bus hit the PRTC bus from the behind, the front door of our bus got locked. Many of us came out of bus from the driver’s door. We had to reach Bathinda, so many of us stood alongside the road on the flyover to board another bus. Meanwhile, the truck came at a very high speed and ran over us,” he said.
As our private bus hit the PRTC bus, its front door got locked. Many of us came out from the driver’s door and stood on the road. Meanwhile, the speeding truck hit us. JAGMOHAN SINGH, an injured