Jhakolari (Gurdaspur), September11
Seven passengers were killed and sixteen injured, three of them seriously, in a collision between a Punjab Roadways bus and a truck coming from the opposite direction this morning.
The accident took place on the Gurdaspur-Pathankot road at about 5.45 am near Jhakolari village. Sources on the spot said the Batala depot Punjab Roadways bus was coming from Pathankot. A truck coming from the opposite direction hit the bus from the driver side.
Four passengers, including the driver of the bus, were killed on the spot. Hearing the screams of the passengers, villagers gathered at the accident site and helped the injured. Highway patrolling vehicles also reached the spot and helped shift the injured to the Civil Hospital at Pathankot.
Those killed in the accident include Dev Raj Bhatia, resident of Uttam Garden colony, Manwal village, Suman, wife of Vinod, resident of Hariyal village, Ekta and her father Parasram, residents of Abrol Nagar, Pathankot, Sunil Singh, son of Amar Singh, a worker of Dhariwal woollen mill, Ramika Gupta, daughter of Prithvi Gupta, resident of Dhangu road, Pathankot, and Tilak Raj, resident of Hari Nagar, Pathankot.
Four of those killed were ETT teachers and a doctor who were recently recruited on government jobs. They were going to join duties in various parts of the district.
Minister for Transport, Raghunath Sahai Puri announced a grant of Rs 50,000 each to kin of the deceased. Besides, Rs 1 lakh was announced for the family of each deceased by the Punjab Government.
Those injured in the accident include Davinder Singh, Raj Kumar, Dimple, Kishan Lal, Dr Anjali Gupta, Arti, Surinder Pal, Neetu, Savita Mahajan, Tilak Raj, Raghubir Chand, Paras Ram, Sunita, Sushila Devi, Ved Prakash and Davinder Singh.
