Ten members of a family, including two women and five children, died on Tuesday when their car fell into an irrigation canal near Ramdas village in Amritsar district.
According to police, the family, which was returning from a marriage function, was headed to Ramdas Railway Station to board a train when mishap struck. The vehicle fell into the canal at about 6.15 am when the person at the wheel lost control trying to negotiate the bend on a small bridge over the canal leaving all passengers dead on the spot.
By the time passersby could get to their rescue, all the occupants of the vehicle had drowned, police said, adding that the bodies had been fished out and sent for post-mortem. Apart from the dense fog in the border village, a narrow bridge that had no protection on the edges is seen as the main reason of the accident. Out of the 10 deceased, nine were from Akku Maste Ke village of Ferozepur district, and one was from Ajanala in Amritsar district. The family had come here to attend a wedding.
The deceased have been identified as Inderjit Singh (19), Baldev Singh (60), Kuldeep Kaur (32), Rajwinder Kaur (17), Palwinder Singh (9), Mandeep Kaur (13), Jasbir Kaur (30), Kulwinder Kaur (30), Karamjit Kaur (8) and Gurlal Singh (7). Expressing deep shock and anguish over the tragic demise of 10 persons, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Tuesday announced an ex-gratia grant of Rs 1 lakh each to the next of kin of the deceased. Badal also directed the civil and police administration to extend all help to send the bodies of the victims at their native places.