Three dead as speeding bus rams van near Farrukhnagar

Three college students were killed and four injured when a speeding Haryana Roadways bus rammed a van they were travelling in, on the way to Farrukhnagar, on Tuesday

Three college students were killed and four injured when a speeding Haryana Roadways bus rammed a van they were travelling in, on the way to Farrukhnagar, on Tuesday morning.

HT Image

The police said the collision took place near village Kaliyawas Chowk, 16 kilometres from the city on Gurugram-Farrukhnagar Road, around 8am. The van driver took a right turn towards a petrol pump and the speeding bus coming from Gurugram side rammed the van. The bus driver fled the spot as soon as people started gathering, said police.

Seven injured students and at least seven bus passengers were rushed to the hospital, where doctors declared a woman and a man, later found to be cousins, dead. Another student died while undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Sector 38 on Tuesday afternoon.

The deceased have been identified as Varsha (20), Akshay (21) and Prashant (20) of Luksar village in Jhajjar. The bus from Palwal depot was on its way to Jind from Gurugram.

Rajesh Rathi (42), who was at the wheel of the van, sustained injuries and is undergoing treatment at a private hospital, the police said. Passersby, who witnessed the incident, informed the police control room. They told the police that the speeding bus skidded for at least 50 metres after hitting the van.

Rathi said that he picked up students from different villages and dropped them at Shree Guru Gobind Singh Tricentenary (SGT) University in Farrukhnagar every day.

“It seems the (bus) driver was not looking straight at the road and was talking. Before he could take control of the wheel, the bus rammed my van. I have been ferrying these students for the past one year and this is the first time such an incident has taken place. I am still not able to come out of trauma,” he said.

Joginder Singh, sub-inspector of Farrukhnagar police station and investigating officer in the case, said that passersby helped ferry the victims to the hospital.

“One of the students died in the afternoon, while undergoing treatment, and two died on the spot. The bodies were handed over to the families on Tuesday, after the autopsy,” Singh said.

Singh said the extent of damage suggested that the bus was being driven at a speed higher than 100 kilometres per hour.

A case under sections 279 (rash driving), 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), and 304A (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code was registered at Farrukhnagar police station.

The police said the deceased were students of nursing, pharmacy and physiotherapy.