LUDHIANA: Two people were killed and as many injured after a tourist bus ran into a stationary truck on a flyover on Delhi-Ludhiana National Highway, near Khanna, early on Wednesday.
Police are yet to ascertain the identities of the deceased.
Yaseen, a passenger who was injured in the accident, said, “I had boarded the bus from Sitamarhi to Ludhiana and paid Rs 1,600.
The bus was overloaded till Delhi and some passengers were standing in the vehicle.
When we reached near Khanna around 3am, we heard a loud bang and fell down.
I tried standing up, but couldn’t.
A few more passengers were injured.” Police said when the bus was passing through the flyover, the truck loaded with iron rods was parked there.
“The bus driver didn’t see the truck.
And by the time he noticed it, he lost control of the vehicle and ran into it.
The iron rods broke into the bus windscreen and pierced the body of the driver, killing him on the spot.
It seems the truck driver was sleeping under his vehicle.
And as the bus dragged the truck, the latter’s tyres killed him,” said a cop.
Sources said the injured were Vishwanath and Kalawati of Bagga Khurd.
They were referred to Ludhiana civil hospital from a Khanna hospital.
“Police later recovered two bodies from the spot.
The bodies have been kept at a government hospital in Khanna for identification,” they added.
Khanna DSP Rajan Parminder Singh said, “Two persons, including the bus driver and another who might be the truck driver, have died in the accident.
A case will be registered against the truck driver for causing accident.”