Eight killed, 23 injured in Punjab road accident

PATHANKOT (PUNJAB): Eight passengers were killed and 23 injured after a Punjab Roadways bus was hit by a truck on the Pathankot-Gurdaspur road on Monday. The condition of four of the injured was stated to be serious.

The bus was on its way from Pathankot to Amritsar when it was hit near Jhakoladi village in the district by a truck coming from Gurdaspur at around 5.15 am, police said

Seven persons died on the spot while a girl succumbed to her injuries on the way to hospital, they said. They said 23 people were injured and rushed to Pathankot civil hospital.

A crane was immediately despatched to the site to remove the mangled bus and clear the road for traffic, Pathankot depot supervisor Raj Singh said. The bus driver Ranbir and conducted Jagbir alleged that the truck driver had been driving rashly.

Pathankot Superintendent of Police Bhupinder Singh Virk said some of the victims were Dev Raj Bhatia, 50, of Uttam Garden Colony in Pathankot; Suman, daughter of Vinod Kumar from Tharial village near Pathankot; Ankut, daughter Paras Ram of Abrol Nagar, Pathankot; Romika Gupta, daughter of Prithvi Chand of Dhangu Road, Pathankot; Tilak Raj son of Darshan Lal of Hari Nagar, Pathankot; and Sabhati Mahajan of Pathankot