8 pilgrims killed as vehicle plunges into Sirhind canal

Eight pilgrims, including three women and as many children, died while two others were feared drowned when a tempo they were travelling in fell into Sirhind Canal near here on Sunday night.

A pal of gloom descended on Manakwal village of Malerkotla district from where all pilgrims, including 19 rescued from the canal, hailed. They all were from the Dalit community.

Jaswinder Singh of the village lost his wife and two children, a son and a daughter, in the incident. The deceased were identified as Manjit Kaur (58), Jarnail Singh (55), Krishana Kaur (60), Akashdeep Singh (8), Kamaljit Kaur (25), Arashdeep Kaur (4), Sukhman Kaur (1.5 yr) and Mohinder Kaur (23). Kesar Singh (70) and Gurpreet Singh (35) were feared drowned.

The administration claimed that 19 pilgrims rescued during the operation were either discharged or convalescing at various healthcare centres.

Villagers led by sarpanch Kesar Singh informed that a group of 29 devotees, including the tempo driver, had left the village to pay obeisance at Mata Naina Devi temple in Himachal Pradesh on Friday.

On their way back, the driver lost control of the vehicle and it plunged into the canal Canal near Jagera Bridge, about 15 km from Manakwal, around 9 pm on Sunday.

Ludhiana DC Himanshu Jain and Khanna SSP Jyoti Yadav said the administration received information about the mishap around 9.45 pm and an operation was launched to rescue the pilgrims.

Meanwhile, legislators Manwinder Singh Giaspura, Jaswant Singh Gajjanmajra and Muhammad Jamil Ur Rahman expressed sorrow over the deaths of the pilgrims. Cops led by DSP Payal Hemant Malhotra were supervising the operation being conducted by divers to search the two missing pilgrims.