E-Paper
Dressed as groom, youth killed in Canada road mishap given final farewell
When Harpreet Singh got off the vehicle to remove snow from his windshield, he was run over by a speeding truck
“My son was to get married this year,” said the grieving mother of 24-year-old Harpreet Singh, who was among 5 others killed in a road accident on a highway in Canada on March 14.
Numbed by the traumatic loss, Manjeet Kaur cursed the day she sent her son abroad, saying he went to Canada four years ago to pursue a course in hotel management.
“He started driving cabs for a living. For two years, he ferried students from Brampton to Montreal and purchased the car that met with the accident just a few days ago,” she said.
Shocked father Sarabjit Singh trudged back home with the body of his son. The tragedy engulfed street number 16, Gurpal Nagar in Kol Mangal Singh, as the neighbours gathered to console the bereaved family.
Before being taken to the cremation ground, Harpreet’s family dressed him as a groom, his father tied a ‘sehra’on his forehead as he trembled, and his cousin tied a rakhi on his wrist.
His younger brother Parampreet, a student of SCD Government College, could still not believe that his brother was gone.
Harpreet’s father thanked members of an NGO for helping in getting the bodies back home.
The last rites of Mohit Chauhan, 23, another resident of Gujjar Colony at Rahon Road in Ludhiana who went to Canada on a study visa on January 1, 2021, was performed at his native village Barundi, Balachaur.
The bodies of Mohit’s friends Jaspinder Singh, 21, Karanpal Singh, 22, and Pawan Kumar, 23, were also brought to their native villages for their last rites.
The bodies of Jaspinder Singh (21) from Amritsar, Karanpal Singh (22) from Batala and Pawan Kumar (23) from Haryana, who also died in the accident, reached their native villages.
Quote
‘He got off vehicle to clear windscreen’
“As per the students, the snowstorm reduced the visibility. When Harpreet Singh got off the vehicle to remove snow from his windshield, he was run over by a speeding truck that ripped apart the roof of the vehicle, killing five youths.” Sarabjit Singh, Harpreet’s father
