16 hurt as bus overturns

Bipin Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Barwala, February 10

Sixteen passengers were injured, three of them seriously, when a Haryana Roadways bus overturned after colliding with a truck on the Naraingarh-Panchkula road, near here, today. The truck driver sped away after the mishap.

The accident occurred at about 12.15 pm between Alipur and Mattanwala villages when the bus (HR 68 9978), which was on its way from Naraingarh to Panchkula with nearly 25 passengers on board, collided with a truck, which was trying to overtake it from the left side.

Following the collision, the bus driver lost control over the vehicle and it overturned, said Bhupinder Singh, one of the injured.

Besides the bus conductor, Surinder Kumar, nine passengers – Vidya, a resident of Nahan, Santosh of Kharar, Jagannath of Naraingarh, Jarnailo Devi of Ambala City, Balwinder Singh of Pinjore, Nandan Lal and Mamta of Naraingarh, and Santosh of New Indira Colony, Mani Majra, were admitted to the hospital with injuries.

Those who sustained minor injuries were discharged after first aid.

Madan, the driver of the bus, who also sustained minor injuries, said the windscreen of the bus had to be broken to rescue the passengers who were trapped inside.

He said the injured were rushed to the General Hospital, Sector 6, Panchkula, in another government bus.

Balwinder Singh, Santosh of Kharar and Jarnailo Devi received serious injuries in the mishap, said doctors attending to them at the hospital.

The police have registered a case of hit-and-run against the unidentified truck driver on a complaint of the bus driver. The police have launched a hunt to trace the truck.