Nuh bus tragedy: Man who rescued 12 died after going in for more

Sanjiv Kumar Bakshi

Hoshiarpur, May 18

A pall of gloom descended on the city when it was learned that a bus with pilgrims caught fire near Nuh, and six of the deceased belonged to Hoshiarpur.

The victims include Gautam Sharma (32), son of Rakesh Sharma, a resident of Shalimar Nagar. Gautam’s father had been taking a bus to pilgrimage for around two decades. This year, too, they left for pilgrimage on May 10. They left for Hoshiarpur last night, but a fire broke out in the bus near Palwal-Nuh.

His friend Pt Luxmi Narayan Sharma says they received information about the terrible incident at 7 am. “We came to know that when the fire broke out, Gautam made all efforts to rescue passengers, endangering his life. Despite the fire engulfing the entire bus, he rescued 12 passengers, but when he went back in to rescue another pilgrim, there was a blast. He also got stuck in the bus and was unable to come out,” says Narayan Sharma.

The other deceased have been identified as Shashi Sharma, wife of Rakesh Sharma, and Poonam Dadwal, wife of Kashmir Singh Dadwal, residents of Shalimar Nagar; Khushi, daughter of Rohit Sharma (nephew of Rakesh Sharma), a resident of Bahadurpur; Sunita Bhasin, wife of Rakesh Bhasin and a resident of Kamalpur; and Ashok Kumar Bhatia, a resident of Model Town.

As soon as information of the accident was received, their family members and close relatives left for Nuh. Former Union Minister of State Santosh Chaudhary, former Union Minister of State Vijay Sampla, Cabinet minister Brahm Shankar Jimpa and SAD leader Sanjiv Talwar have offered their condolences.

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