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Zirakpur: Truck driver loses control, teen, two labourers crushed to death
Driver dozes off behind wheel, runs truck loaded with tiles over labourers waiting for work along the road in Lohgarh village, Zirakpur
Two labourers waiting for work on the roadside and a 15-year-old boy were crushed to death after a truck lost control and overturned on a vacant plot in Lohgarh village, Zirakpur, on the Patiala road on early Wednesday morning.
The truck driver, Habib Khan, who had allegedly fallen asleep behind the wheel, was arrested from the spot.
The deceased were identified as Khurshid, 25, Bhai Lal, 24, both migrant labourers who lived in Zirakpur, and Akash, 15, a relative of the truck driver and resident of Rajasthan.
“The truck was loaded with boxes of vitrified tiles and was headed from Rajasthan to Panchkula. As the truck reached near Lohgarh village around 4.45am, the truck driver lost control of the vehicle at a curve and rammed it into two electricity poles. The vehicle went on to hit a wall and ran over Khurshid and Bhai Lal before it overturned on a vacant plot,” said Onkar Singh Brar, station house officer (SHO), Zirakpur.
He said the labourers, who were waiting near the weighing bridge, where they both used to handle loading and unloading of trucks, were mowed down by the truck.
The minor boy fell out of the truck when it overturned and came under it. The truck driver Habib Khan, who is a resident of Rajasthan, suffered minor injuries. A helper escaped unhurt.
Police said Khurshid and Bhai Lal, both unmarried, hailed from Budaun district in Uttar Pradesh. They had been working in Zirakpur for the past few years and lived in hutments in Zirakpur.
In his statement to the police, Khan said the minor boy was his relative. He used to accompany him on his road trips and he would also pay him a daily stipend of ₹500.
Khan has been booked under Sections 304-A (causing death by negligence), 279 (rash driving) and 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees) of the Indian Penal Code at the Zirakpur police station.
“The bodies of all three deceased have been kept in the mortuary of the Dera Bassi civil hospital, where an autopsy will be conducted on Thursday. Their family members in Uttar Pradesh have been informed,” the SHO said.
