Haryana: 8 pilgrims killed, 10 hurt as truck rams into vehicle in Jind

Police said the accident took place around 1am on Tuesday when 18 pilgrims were headed from Kurukshetra to Gogamedi temple in Rajasthan to pay obeisance.

Eight pilgrims were killed and 10 injured when a truck rammed into their vehicle near Jind’s Bidhrana village on the Hisar-Chandigarh national highway early on Tuesday, police said.

The wreckage of the pick-up vehicle that was hit by a truck near Bidhrana village at Narwana in Jind district on Tuesday. (PTI Photo)

A spokesman of Jind police said that the accident took place around 1am when the pilgrims, who were travelling from Kurukshetra to Gogamedi in Rajasthan to pay obeisance, had taken a brief halt on the roadside.

“The speeding truck hit the pick-up vehicle, which was parked near Bidhrana village. Seven people, including two women, died on the spot. The injured were rushed to the civil hospital at Narwana from where some of them were referred to Maharaja Agrasen Medical College in Agroha. One victim succumbed to injuries at Agroha. Passers-by helped in rescuing the injured,” the spokesman said.

Six of the deceased were identified as Rukmani Devi, 50, Kamini, 35, Tejpal, 55, Suresh Kumar, 50, Paramjeet and Mukit, both aged 50.

The victims belonged to Marchedi village in Kurukshetra.

The truck that hit the pick-up vehicle at Narwana in Jind on Tuesday. (PTI Photo)

According to eyewitnesses, seven ambulances were called to the spot to rush the victims to hospital.

The police impounded the truck that bears a Rajasthan registration number and arrested its driver, Rakesh Kumar. The truck was carrying wooden logs.