Two lives snuffed out in bike-truck collision in Ludhiana
Victims were returning after spending evening with friends
A stationary trailer truck claimed two lives in Barewal Dogra village after a motorcycle crashed into it late on Saturday.
The victims were on their way back home after spending the evening with their friends.
The trailer was parked on roadside, which the victims failed to spot due to darkness.
The deceased are Rajan Virdi, 22, a resident of Rajowal village and his friend Manpreet Singh, 24, from Sangewal. The duo worked at a hosiery unit.
After the accident, driver of the trailer truck managed to flee from the spot.
The Ladhowal police have identified the truck driver as Mangat Singh of Humbran Road area and booked him for causing death due to negligence, besides impounding his vehicle.
Ladhowal station house officer (SHO) sub-inspector Balwinder Singh said Rajan and Manpreet had gone to meet their friends.
“While returning home, they did not notice a truck laden with dismantled swings parked on the roadside and rammed into it. At the time of the mishap, Rajan was in control of the bike, while Manpreet was riding pillion,” he added.
According to onlookers, they were driving beyond the permissible speed limit without wearing helmets.
The impact of collision was such that both of them died on the spot. The police have, meanwhile, launched a manhunt to arrest the truck driver.
The SHO said that the truck had developed a snag following which, its driver pulled it over and waited for the mechanic.
The first information report (FIR) in the case has been registered Sections 304-A (causing death due to negligence) and 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
A pall of gloom has descended on the villages of the victims after the news of their death reached there.
Manpreet Singh was the only son of his parents. His father is a farmer who owns a piece of agricultural land. Manpreet was a school dropout and had been working at the hosiery unit to support his family.
Rajan, too, was a school dropout. His grandfather Mohan Virdi was first to know about the incident. Mohan, in a choked voice, said he shared a special bond with Rajan and had high hopes from him. Rajan’s father Binder Ram is also a farmer.
On August 22, two members of an Amritsar family had lost their lives after their car crashed into a stationary truck on the national highway in Sahnewal. The family was returning to Amritsar in their Honda City car after dropping their daughter to Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi, who flew to Canada.
On August 6, a 32-year-old man was killed after his car hit a parked vehicle near Qadian village. The deceased was identified as Sharad Goel, 32, of Deep Nagar in Jalandhar Cantonment. He was a sales manager at SK Bikes situated in Ludhiana’s Focal Point. Goel was driving a Maruti Suzuki Baleno.
In a similar accident on April 29 this year, a 22-year-old bride was killed after their Mahindra Bolero rammed into a stationary combine machine on the national highway near Dhandhari.
A motorcycle-borne teenager had on February 15 lost his life while his two friends sustained injuries after their bike crashed into a truck parked on the roadside in Pal Majra village of Samrala.
On February 4, a mini-truck driver was killed after his vehicle collided into a truck parked alongside the road in Mullanpur.
A day before, a car-truck collision had claimed lives of two friends near Machhiwara. The car driver had failed to spot the stationary truck due to dense fog. Three persons, including two women and a nine-year-old girl, had also sustained severe injuries in the accident.