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Ludhiana: Man dead, 34 injured as speeding truck rams into parked bus
Tourist bus headed to Jammu from Haridwar overturns with impact of collision on Jalandhar Bypass; truck driver escapes
A passenger was killed and 34 others injured when a speeding truck hit a tourist bus parked on the roadside at the Jalandhar bypass in Ludhiana early on Tuesday, officials said.
The impact of the collision was such that the bus overturned, killing the passenger on the spot. After the mishap, the truck’s driver escaped after leaving the vehicle on the road.
Police registered a case against the unidentified truck driver.
Due to the mishap, the flow of traffic remained affected for a few hours. Later, the police removed the ill-fated vehicles from the road and restored traffic on the stretch.
The victim was identified as Suresh Kumar, 40, of Kathua of Jammu. Condition of four of the injured, including passengers Inder Singh and Kabal Singh, bus driver Davinder Singh and bus conductor Kuldeep Singh is stated serious.
The remaining 32 passengers of the bus going from Haridwar to Jammu were discharged after administering first-aid.
Conductor Kuldeep Singh said that 47 pilgrims were travelling in the bus. “As we reached Jalandhar Bypass at 1.30 am, we had a flat tyre. Around 3 am, we were replacing the tyre with a spare when a speeding truck hit the bus. The bus overturned and passengers were trapped,” the conductor added.
On being informed, the police reached the spot and initiated rescue with the help of passersby. The police rushed the victims to civil hospital in different vehicles.
Inder Singh said that most of the passengers, who were returning after paying obeisance at Haridwar, were asleep at the time of the incident.
Eldeco police post in-charge sub-inspector Bhajan Singh said the police reached the spot within 10 minutes of receiving information and initiated rescue.
A first-information report (FIR) has been registered against the unidentified truck driver on charges of reckless driving and causing death by negligence. A hunt is on for his arrest, police said.
The sub-inspector added that there were no streetlights in the stretch where the incident occurred.
He added that the reason behind the collision will be ascertained after the arrest of the truck driver. According to the sub-inspector, the police suspect that the truck driver was sleepy, which caused the accident.
