Chemical-laden tanker mows down 5 people in Panipat

Mukesh Tandon
Tribune News Service
Panipat, May 23

A speeding oil tanker crushed five people to death near Jhatipur village in this district in the wee hours of Tuesday.

Two persons died on the spot while three others were declared brought dead at the hospital.

The deceased have been identified as Kuldeep (27), a resident of Dadhola village in the district; Jitendera (28), a resident of Jorasi village in the district; Kundan (45), a resident of Dinanath Colony in Noorwala in the city; Kamal (24) and Kamlesh (17), residents of Chilkamor of Solan district in Himachal Pradesh.

Jagdeep Duhan, DSP headquarters, said, “The incident took place around 2.45 am when the victims were helping the canter driver near Jhatipur, a village on NH-1 in the district.”

A canter loaded with pomegranates was on its way from Delhi to Himachal, he said.

Karan Singh, a resident of Solan district in Himachal, was driving the canter. When they reached near Jhatipur on NH-1 the canter overturned after the tyre burst, he added.

Jitender, who was on the way to Model Town in the city on a bike with his colleague Ajay Kumar, a resident of Gharaunda, and two others Kundan and Kuldeep reached there to help the canter driver, he said.

Meanwhile, the speeding oil tanker coming from Delhi side hit them. Two of them died on the spot while three others were declared brought dead at the hospital, he said.

The bodies had been handed over to the families after the post-mortem, he said.  
A case has been registered against the tanker driver, who managed to escape, under Sections 279 and 304-A of the IPC, the DSP said.