Tile-laden truck veers off road in Zirakpur, leaves 3 dead

Zirakpur, March 16

Three persons, including a minor boy, were killed when a speeding trailer truck veered off the main Patiala-Zirakpur highway and hit a building before overturning in an empty plot near the Lohgarh turn in the wee hours of today.

Two UP labourers, Khurshid (25) and Bhai Lal (24), breadwinners of their families, who were resting outside a building on the roadside, were mowed down. A 15-year-old boy, Akash, who was inside the truck cabin, fell off the window and was crushed under a mound of tiles.

The driver, Habib Khan, a resident of Bikaner, and the helper of the vehicle too suffered injuries.

Eyewitnesses said the truck, coming from Banur to the Zirakpur side, at a high speed suddenly veered off the main road near a turn and grazed past a “dharamkanta” where the labourers were resting. The truck, after going out of control of the driver, razed an electricity pole, rammed a boundary wall ahead and overturned in an empty plot.

“Probably, the driver failed to control the tile-laden trailer at a turn or he fell asleep. The labourers did not get time to save their lives. A liquor bottle was found in the cabin of the truck,” an eyewitness said.

The police arrested the driver, Habib Khan, and booked him under Sections 279, 304-A and 427 of the IPC at the Zirakpur police station. The police said the truck on its way from Rajasthan to Panchkula to deliver tiles.

The bodies of Bhai Lal and Akash have been kept at the mortuary of the Dera Bassi Civil Hospital, while the body of Khurshid has been kept at the GMCH, Sector 32, till the kin arrive and give consent for a postmortem on Thursday.

Boy’s body badly crushed

It took local residents half an hour to extricate the body of the minor boy from under the truck. Eyewitnesses said the body was badly crushed.

Victim sole breadwinner, brother of four sisters

Victim Khurshid was the sole breadwinner of his family. He had four sisters of marriageable age and Badayun native Bhai Lal had recently come to Zirakpur from their home in UP. Bhai Lal, staying at his elder brother’s house,was scheduled to go back home to bring his wife here on Tuesday. His friend persuaded him to stay for a day. Both victims’ kin live close to the accident spot.

Driver thrashed

Shocked and enraged, local residents chased and thrashed the fleeing driver and helper and brought them back to the spot. Later, they were handed over to the police.

Two cranes used to remove overturned truck

Two cranes were used to remove the overturned truck. Police personnel had to be deputed at the accident spot as onlookers gathered in large numbers. After the electricity pole fell, there was disruption in the power supply in the area for hours.

Vehicle rammed into wall, overturned

Eyewitnesses said the truck, coming from Banur to the Zirakpur side at a high speed, suddenly veered off the main road near a turn and grazed past a “dharamkanta” where the labourers were resting. The truck, after going out of control of the driver, razed an electricity pole, rammed a boundary wall ahead and overturned in an empty plot.