Broken loose, container kills 2

Nikhil Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, July 18

In a major accident that occurred on the highway near Sherpur Chowk this morning, two commuters were killed and three suffered severe injuries. A container carrying scrap got separated from the truck after it rammed a mini-truck and went on to hit an auto-rickshaw, two cyclists and a biker.

The deceased have been identified as Arjun Singh and Ashok Kumar, a resident of Lakshman Nagar, Daba, and father of three children. The injured were rushed to the nearby SPS Hospital. The condition of two of them was stated to be serious.

The police have registered a case under Section 304 A, IPC, against unknown driver.

The accident, which occurred at 7.59 am, caused a massive traffic jam. The investigating officer from the Sherpur police post, ASI Krishal Lal, said the truck laden with scrap first rammed a Max Bolero mini-truck from behind. The container of the truck got separated due to the impact of collision and went on to hit commuters.

“The container first crushed an auto-rickshaw, injuring its driver Bhola (29) of Dhandari Kalan, and then hit a biker, Arjun Singh (45), a worker of Nahar Mills. It also hit cyclist Ashok, who died on the spot, and landed on the foot of cyclist Kameshwar Mishra (56) before coming to a screeching halt. Mishra’s foot got severed in the accident. Arjun died at the hospital,” said the ASI.

Cyclist trapped for 25 mnts

Cyclist Kameshwar, whose foot was trapped under the container, had remained stuck there for 25 minutes. Four cranes were used to lift the container and he was shifted to the hospital. Passersby tried to lift the container to free the cyclist, who was crying with pain, but they failed. His severed foot was lying at the scene. “I was going to my factory when a container fell on me. I tried to save myself by jumping off the cycle but my foot got trapped,” he told The Tribune while undergoing treatment at SPS Hospital.

Driver was driving rash, CCTV footage reveals it all

Rakesh Yadav, who was also heading towards his factory on his bicycle, said he was behind Kameshwar when the container fell on the latter. The tipper driver was driving rash due to which he lost control over the vehicle and went on to ram a Bolero Max mini-truck. The driver fled the spot after the accident.