A bus driver was killed and 15 passengers were injured when a speeding Volvo bus rammed into an 18-wheeler truck on the National Highway near Patarsi Kalan village on Wednesday night.
The bus, which was travelling from Delhi to Katra in Jammu, hit the truck from behind. The impact was so severe that the front portion of the vehicle was completely mangled. The driver, identified as Inderjit Singh of Ferozepur, died on the spot.
A Mulepur police team, led by Assistant Sub-Inspector Jagroop Singh, rushed to the scene to launch rescue operations. According to the police, several passengers were pilgrims on their way to the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine.
The injured passengers — all residents of Delhi — were rushed to the Civil Hospital in Fatehgarh Sahib. Six of them, who are in critical condition, were later referred to the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) in Sector 32, Chandigarh, after receiving preliminary treatment.
The critical patients have been identified as Abhijeet Kashyap (27), Ashoka Kashyap (37), Vibhuti (35), Priyanka (24), Gopinath (25), and Baljit (28). The other injured passengers are Javeshwar (60), Rashmi (27), Babita (50), Subha Kumari (16), Shubham (28), Shruti Jha (38), Keshav (13), and Suhail (28).
The police have sent the driver’s body for a post-mortem examination and initiated a formal investigation.
