Mangled remains of the bus at the accident site on Ludhiana-Moga road near Jagraon.
One person was killed and 12 were injured when a bus crashed into a stationary tipper truck on Ludhiana-Moga road (National Highway) near Gurdwara Begampura Bhora Sahib in Jagraon Wednesday morning.
Eyewitnesses said the accident happened around 6.30 am when it was extremely foggy and the bus driver lost control of the vehicle. A tipper truck loaded with sand and other construction materials was parked on the highway. The driver could not see ahead due to the fog and crashed into the tipper truck. Both vehicles turned turtle.
Police booked driver of tipper truck for parking negligently.
The deceased, Rajinder Singh, was a resident of Panecha village in Fatehgarh Sahib. Police said the injured were admitted in different hospitals.
Inspector Jagjit Singh, SHO Jagraon city police station, said that family of the deceased was contacted via a SIM card extracted from his phone. They reached Ludhiana Wednesday late and body was handed over after autopsy. The bus started from Ludhiana and had to reach Abohar via Moga. At least 25 people were travelling in it and when the accident happened, some went to hospitals on their own while others were rushed by administration’s 108 ambulance service.
Inspector Jagjit Singh further said that truck tipper driver fled the spot and the bus driver also got injured. “An FIR has been registered against truck tipper driver under the sections 304-A (causing death due to negligence), 283 (danger or obstruction in public way of navigation), 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 427 (causing damage) of the IPC at Jagraon city police station. We are trying to arrest him,” said SHO.
“Both vehicles turned turtle and passengers were thrown out of the bus,” said the SHO.
He added that the driver of tipper truck was reportedly repairing the vehicle by parking it on the roadside. Bus driver was injured in the accident but police was yet to locate him.