Five women were killed and 24 other passengers injured when a Sirsa-bound Canter collided with a tractor trolley coming from the opposite direction near Badopal village of Fatehabad district on the Sirsa-Delhi national highway on Saturday morning.
While four women were killed on the spot, one of them died on her way to hospital.
The occupants of the Canter, who had boarded the vehicle from Mill Gate in Hisar, were on their way to Dera Sacha Sauda, Sirsa. The accident took place when the hook of the trolley got disengaged and the driver lost control over the tractor.
The driver of a bus moving right next to the tractor swerved to the right to avoid a collision, but hit against the canter coming from the other side. As a result, the Canter collided with the tractor and overturned before ramming into the wall of a bridge. Another tractor trolley coming from Fatehabad also collided against the two vehicles.
The casualties could have been much higher had it not been for the bus driver's presence of mind. The deceased have been identified as Sheela (30), Mamta (17), Kamlesh (26), Lal Devi (70) and Krishna (45), all residents of Mill Gate, Hisar.
{{/usCountry}}The casualties could have been much higher had it not been for the bus driver's presence of mind. The deceased have been identified as Sheela (30), Mamta (17), Kamlesh (26), Lal Devi (70) and Krishna (45), all residents of Mill Gate, Hisar.
{{/usCountry}}The condition of two passengers, Partap Singh (60) and Savitri Devi (60), is said to be critical. The injured, including the drivers of the tractors, Gulshan and Hardeep, and an occupant of one of these vehicles, Jaswinder, were admitted to Agroha Medical College.
Fatehabad deputy commissioner ML Kaushik and SP Satendra Gupta reached the spot and pressed an ambulance into service to rush the injured to hospital.