Heart-rending scenes witnessed as five bodies laid to rest

Nikhil Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana May 14

Heart-rending scenes were witnessed at the cremation ground on the Gaushala road here today, as five bodies were being laid to rest.

A religious tour to Himachal Pradesh proved fatal for two families as the car in which they were travelling in, met with an accident near Khurmpura village on the Phagwara- Hoshiarpur highway on Sunday morning. The kin of both families were inconsolable. Hundreds of people reached the cremation ground to share the family’s grief.

Their Kwid car (PB10FN2968) had a head-on collision with a speedy truck snuffing out five lives on the spot. The collision was so intense, that the car was completely crushed in the accident and even the truck caught fire after the mishap.

The deceased have been identified as Vikas Kumar (35), his wife Shikha (30), residents of Subash Nagar and Shikha’s sister Reena (32), Reena’s two children Raghav (10) and Madhav (8), residents of Puneet Nagar Tibba road.

Due to critical head injuries, all five died on the spot. Raghav was a studying in Class III, while Madhav was in Class I.

All five members died on the spot, while Reena’s husband Surinder Bajaj (35) and eight-month-old daughter of Vikas and Shika — Jiwika —suffered severe injuries and are struggling for life. Vikas was driving the car when the accident occurred. Area shopkeepers said when Vikas was being cremated his split head was temporarily attached to the body on the pyre.

Surinder owns a garment store on Tibba road, while Vikas runs a medical store.

Surinder’s uncle Chandar Mohan said, Surinder had recently bought a new car and he along with his sister-in-law’s family made a plan to visit Himachal to pay obeisance at Mata Chintpurni temple.

“It was a big shock for the family. Surinder’s mother Asha is inconsolable,” Mohan said.

He said that about five years ago, Surinder lost his father Rakesh Kumar Bajaj, when he suffered a cardiac arrest.

“The road tragedy has devastated Surinder’s family. Nothing worst could have happened,” he said.

“Surinder was a religious man and he was also attached with Gyan Sathal Mandir. A pall of gloom has descended at Puneet Nagar and Subash Nagar. Shopkeepers in the entire market shut their shops as a tribute to the family,” a shopkeeper at Tibba Road said.