2 kids among 10 pilgrims killed as jeep rams into tree in Hoshiarpur

Ten pilgrims, including two children and three women, were killed and 13 injured when the jeep they were travelling in rammed into a tree in Hoshiarpur on Thursday.

The accident took place near the municipal corporation office on the outskirts of the city. The pilgrims were returning after paying obeisance at a shrine in Himachal Pradesh.

Police personnel, MC staff and passers-by extricated the bodies and shifted them to the civil hospital in ambulances and private vehicles.

Civil surgeon Renu Sood said 10 persons were brought dead while 13 injured were undergoing treatment.

Police said as per preliminary investigations, cause of the accident appears to be driver losing control over the vehicle after which it hit the tree.

“First he (driver) hit a stationary autorickshaw and then rammed the vehicle into a tree”, said an eyewitness.

The injured belonged to Usmaan Shaheed village of Dasuya sub-division here. Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh expressed deep shock over the accident. Captain announced an ex gratia of Rs 1 lakh each to the next of the kin of the deceased and Rs 25,000 each to the injured, an official statement said.

First Published: May 10, 2019 05:17 IST