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3 killed, 17 injured as buses collide in Punjab’s Mohali district
Driver of Haryana Roadways bus going from Baijnath to Faridabad among 17 injured in accident, booked for rash driving
Three passengers, including a woman, were killed and 17 were injured after a Haryana Roadways bus rammed into a private bus, ferrying devotees of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, in a head-on collision at Kurali, Mohali, around Sunday midnight.
Police registered a case of rash driving and causing death by negligence against Mukesh Kumar, the driver of the Haryana Roadways bus, as passengers complained he was speeding.
They said he lost control of the vehicle and collided with the private bus while overtaking a car. After the collision, the roadways bus rammed into the railing of a bridge from where it hung precariously, as passengers’ cries filled the air.
The Haryana Roadways bus was on its way from Baijnath in Himachal Pradesh’s Kangra district to Faridabad, while the private bus was headed to Jalandhar from Solan, where its devotees had attended a spiritual discourse at Radha Soami Satsang Beas earlier in the day.
The deceased were identified as Kulwant Singh, 70, and Balkar Chand, 68, both from Jalandhar, and Ranjana, 35, a resident of Kangra.
Ranjana was travelling in the Haryana Roadways bus and fell off the bus as its windshield broke following the collision.
She fell 80 feet into the service lane below as the bus hung from the bridge and died on the spot. Mukesh Kumar, the bus driver, also fell down and suffered injuries in the legs.
Kulwant and Balkar were riding in the private bus that rammed into the other side of the railing.
There were 50 passengers on board the Haryana Roadways bus and 40 on the private bus.
Ashok Kumar, one of the passengers of the Haryana Roadways bus, said that the driver was driving rashly despite requests from passengers to slow down.
While 12 injured passengers are undergoing treatment at the civil hospital in Kurali, four were referred to the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, and one to Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, Chandigarh.
Investigating officer, sub-inspector Bhagatvir Singh said three ambulances were rushed to the spot soon after the accident. “Ranjana and Kulwant died on the spot, while Balkar was declared brought dead at the Kurali civil hospital,” he said.
He further said the driver of the Haryana Roadways bus had been booked under Sections 279 (rash driving or riding on a public way) and 304-A (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code at the Kurali police station. He is undergoing treatment at the Kural civil hospital, he added.
