12 dead in collision at unmanned crossing in Hisar

Deepender Deswal

Tribune News Service

Hisar, January 27

Twelve members of a family of Balak village in the district were killed in a train-Tempo collision on an unmanned railway crossing on Monday.

The victims included five women and four children. The bodies were cremated late last evening. Three others were injured.

Devender Kumar, a villager,  said that cousins Nar Singh and Manphool had lost many younger members of their respective families.
Those killed in the mishap included five members of Nar Singh’s family -- his sons Sanjiv (32) and  Vijay (29), their wives Sunita and Anita and Vijay’s son Keshav (3); and Manphool’s son Bajrang (31), Bajrang’s wife Kavita (26) and their sons Pritam (2) and Deepak (4). Among the dead are Pooja (26), wife of Santlal, her daughter Nandini (2) and another young girl Kiran. As Pooja was nine months pregnant, the unborn child is also among the dead.

The accident occurred when they were going to attend a religious function in Panghal village of the district in the morning yesterday. The Tata Tempo was being driven by Sanjiv, who is among the victims.  As he tried to cross the railway line, the vehicle got stuck midway. He could not spot the approaching passenger train due to the fog. The train hit the vehicle and dragged it along for about 200m.

Barwala DSP Rajbir Singh said six persons were killed on the spot while the other six succumbed to their injuries on the way to the hospital.

The three injured, who were also travelling in the Tempo, were admitted to the Civil Hospital in Hisar. Haryana Congress president Ashok Tanwar and the INLD MP from Hisar Dushyant Chautala expressed shock over the incident.