KHARAR, Sept 10 — In a major road mishap, at least 10 persons died and another 40 persons were injured in a collision among four vehicles, including two buses, on the Kharar-Morinda highway near Rurki Pukhta village near here late this evening. Of the 40 injured, around 25 persons, who were in a serious condition, were rushed to the PGI, Chandigarh and another nine were admitted to the Civil Hospital, here.

A Maruti car and scooter were the other two vehicles involved in the accident. At least three occupants of the badly damaged car also died in the mishap. Traffic on the busy Kharar- Morinda highway remained blocked for over three hours due to the accident and cranes had to be requisitioned to remove remains of mangled vehicles involved in the accident.

According to information available, a private bus (RJ-31-P-0217) was going from Chandigarh to Abohar and another bus of the Punjab Roadways (PB-12-C-9071) was coming from Amritsar to Chandigarh.

On hearing the noise of the collision between the buses, inhabitants of Rurki Pukhta rushed to the spot to evacuate the injured for medical help. Public announcements on the loudspeakers of the village gurdwara were also made. Dr HS Oberoi and Dr Rajiv Bhalla of Civil Hospital, Kharar, were among the persons who provided first aid to the injured passengers. The DSP, Mr Rupinder Singh and the SDM, Mr Devinder Singh, could also be seen making frantic efforts to rush the injured to nearest hospitals. The SDM accompanied seriously injured to the PGI, Chandigarh.

According to the reports reaching here late tonight, a number of the seriously injured passengers who were rushed to the PGI, were reported to be a serious conditions. Officials of the Ropar district administration were making efforts to contact kith and kin of the injured whose identity had been ascertained. An official at the Khahar Civil hospital said body of one of the dead passenger was lying at the Morinda Civil Hospital. Meanwhile, it was a heart rendering scene at the accident site as blood-spattered luggage and other belongings of the victims was scattered around.

Though the name of the dead persons could not be ascertained, the list of the injured persons, who had been identified and admitted to the Civil Hospital, Kharar, are: Kishore, Ranjit Kaur, Sanjeev Singh, Kishan Kumar, Sharanpreet Kaur, Manpreet Kaur, Rajinder Singh, Devinder Kaur, Jeet Kaur and Khuda Singh, Sukhdev Singh, Karnail Singh and S Singh. Most of the patients admitted to the PGI were in an unconscious state.

CHANDIGARH: The surgical emergency ward of the PGI was overcrowded late on Sunday night as nearly 25 of the injured bus accident victims were rushed here with serious injuries. The wails of these patients could be heard as soon as one entered the corridor leading to the OPD of the surgical emergency.

At least five of these patients succumbed to their injuries at the PGI. While two were brought dead, three others died on reaching the PGI. Among these were 60-year-old Gurdev Kaur and 16-year-old Amrik Singh who were travelling in the Maruti car which rammed into a bus, involved in the collision, besides three passengers of the bus. The condition of Jasleen, another occupant of the car is reported to be serious. The attendants of these patients were in a state of shock as they stood by the side of their bleeding relatives. The nurses and doctors were busy attending upon their multiple injuries. Most of those admitted were poly-trauma cases who were brought in with head injuries and different fractures of thigh bone, arms, facial wounds and chest injuries.