Punjab: Out of control truck kills 7 pilgrims, injures 10 in Hoshiarpur

Hoshiarpur: Seven pilgrims died on the spot and 10 were injured when all of them were crushed under the wheels of an out-of-control truck near Charan Chhoe Ganga Sri Guru Ravidas Maharaj, Sri Khuralgarh Sahib here in the wee hours of the morning.

DSP Daljit Singh Khakh said that the deceased are mostly residents of Mastan Khera in Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh.

All the injured persons were admitted in Civil Hospital from where five of them had been referred to PGIMER, Chandigarh under critical condition.

The area is sub mountainous and on a slope the truck driver lost control over his vehicle and crushed 17 pedestrians out of which seven died. It is suspected that the brakes of the truck had failed.

He said that the deceased men were identified as Rahul and Sudesh Pal and the women included Santosh, Angoori, Kunti, Geeta and Ramoh.

The deceased, along with the injured were on a pilgrimage of Charan Chhoe Ganga Sri Guru Ravidas Maharaj, Sri Khuralgarh Sahib.

Three bodies had been kept in the mortuary of Civil Hospital, while four at Civil Hospital, Nawanshahr.

There is a great rush of pilgrims in Khuralgarh Sahib due to the ongoing Baisakhi festival.

Police are further investigating the accident, said Khakh. (UNI)