One dead, 34 injured as speeding truck rams into bus in Punjab’s Ludhiana

One passenger died and 34 were injured when a speeding truck hit a tourist bus in Ludhiana. The bus overturned, and a police probe is underway.

One passenger was killed and 34 others were injured when a speeding truck hit a tourist bus parked on the roadside at the Jalandhar bypass in Ludhiana early on Tuesday. The impact of the collision was such that the bus overturned, killing the passenger on the spot.

One passenger was killed and 34 others were injured when a speeding truck hit a tourist bus parked on the roadside at the Jalandhar bypass in Ludhiana early on Tuesday. (Gurpreet Singh/HT)

Though the deceased was yet to be identified, four of the injured were identified as passengers Inder Singh and Kabal Singh, truck driver Davinder Singh and bus conductor Kuldeep Singh. The rest of the 32 passengers of the bus going from Haridwar to Jammu were discharged after first aid.

Kuldeep Singh said that 47 pilgrims were travelling in the bus. “As we reached Jalandhar Bypass, we had a flat tyre. It was 1.30am and we were replacing the tyre with the spare when a speeding truck hit the bus. The bus overturned and passengers were trapped in it,” the conductor said.

On being informed, the police reached the spot and initiated rescue with the help of passers-by.

Inder Singh said that most of the passengers, who were returning after paying obeisance at Haridwar, were asleep when the accident took place.

Salem Tabri police station in-charge inspector Bittan Kumar said a probe was underway to ascertain the reason behind the accident.