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Highway accident: 43 injured as bus rams into truck in Dera Bassi
Five of family seriously injured in the accident; truck driver had parked the vehicle on the highway after it developed snag
Five members of a family headed towards Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine were seriously injured while 38 other passengers suffered minor injuries when a Haryana Roadways bus travelling from Gurugram to Chandigarh rammed into a truck parked on the highway at Dera Bassi in the wee hours of Monday.
“Of the 43 injured people, eight were taken to the civil hospital in Dera Bassi, from where five were referred to Government Medical College and Hospital in Sector 32, Chandigarh,” said Narpinder Singh, police post in-charge, Mubarakpur.
The five include two minor twins, two men and one woman, all from the same family. Both the twins suffered head injuries. They all are stated to be out of danger. Meanwhile, rest of the passengers were administered first aid.
Singh said the accident took place at 3am. “The truck’s engine broke down at night and the driver parked it on the side without any reflectors. The bus driver could not see it in the dark and rammed into it at high speed,” he said.
Naresh Kumar, one of the injured passengers, said: “The bus was fully packed and most of us were sleeping. There was a sudden crash, leaving us injured. While police were late to arrive, locals arranged ambulances and the injured were shifted to hospitals.”
The truck has been impounded and its driver, Mahesh Kumar, has been arrested after being booked under Section 283 (danger or obstruction in public way or line of navigation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
20-year-old killed in another Dera Bassi accident
A 20-year-old boy was killed while his three friends suffered injuries in an accident on the Dera Bassi-Barwala road.
The deceased has been identified as Anam of Karnal district in Haryana. The four had come to Dera Bassi for some work and were heading towards Barwala when the accident took place around 11pm on Sunday.
According to witnesses, the victims’ Maruti Swift rammed into an electricity pole after being hit by a Maruti Alto car coming from the wrong side. All four were rushed to the civil hospital in Dera Bassi , where Anam was declared brought dead. The other three were referred to Chandigarh, where the condition of one is stated to be critical while two were discharged after treatment.
A case under Sections 279 (rash driving) and 304A (causing death by negligence) has been registered against the unknown driver.
