3 killed, 25 hurt as buses collide in Kurali

Mohali, May 9

Three passengers were killed, while 25 others were injured when a rashly driven Haryana Roadways bus collided head-on with a private bus near Kurali city on a narrow overbridge around 12.30 am today. The deceased have been identified as Maranda resident Ranjana Arora (45) and Jalandhar residents Kulwant Singh (60) and Balkar Singh (68).

Among the deceased, Ranjana was in the Haryana Roadways bus, that was going to Faridabad, while Kulwant Singh and Balkar Singh were returning home from a religious congregation in a bus carrying dera pilgrims.

The police said the accident took place when the Haryana Roadways bus, coming from Baijnath, in a bid to overtake a car, hit the private bus coming from the other side on the overbridge. Eyewitnesses said after the collision, the Faridabad-bound bus broke the railing of the bridge and hung precariously from the overbridge for sometime before it was pulled back.

The eyewitnesses said deceased Ranjana Arora and two others fell off the bus from a height of around 30 ft on the service road below.

The police said the toll could have been much higher as a high tension wire was close by. Some of the injured have been discharged from a hospital in Kurali. A team of doctors present on the spot referred several severely injured to nearby hospitals in Mohali, Kharar and Chandigarh for treatment. Passengers complained that the roadways bus driver was warned repeatedly for driving rashly, but he did not pay heed, said the police. On a complaint of a bus passenger, a case has been registered against the bus driver, Mukesh Kumar.

The bodies have been handed over to the kin of the deceased. The investigating officer, ASI Balwinder Singh, said, “Deceased Ranjana was travelling with nine members of her family. One of the women in the family is critically injured and admitted to the PGI. The driver of the bus was arrested after he was discharged from the hospital.”

Eyewitness account

• The police said the accident took place when a Faridabad-bound Haryana Roadways bus, coming from Baijnath, in a bid to overtake a car, hit a private bus coming from the other side
• Eyewitnesses said after the accident, the bus broke the railing of the bridge and hung precariously from the overbridge for sometime before it was pulled back