In a gruesome collision between a car and a luxury bus of Himachal Transport, five people lost their life while 15 bus passengers sustained injuries. The accident took place in the wee hours at 2:13 am on the red light junction of Sector 45/46/49/50.
The mishap took place when a Maruti Swift collided with a Volvo bus of Himachal Pradesh which was carrying 17 tourists and was heading towards Delhi from Dharamsala.
The deceased, who were inside the car, were identified as Gaurav Garg (22), Dipanshu (22) and Balrup Singh Bhogal (23). Gaurav and Dipanshu were students of MBA final while Balrup was perusing second year of BTech from Chandigarh Group of College at Mohali.
A couple who were travelling in the luxury bus also died in the collision and they were identified as Rupesh and Kavita.
Rupesh and Kavita, along with their nine-year-old daughter Ananya, recently came from England to meet their relatives in Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh. They were travelling to Delhi to take a flight back to England when tragedy struck.
“The mishap was so strong that the Swift jumped up to 10 feet in the air and the bus also turned turtle on the spot,” said Parvesh Kumar, head constable of CRPF, an eyewitness.
Parvesh added that the bus was going towards Delhi from ISBT 43. As soon as the bus reached the red light junction, a rashly driven car hit the bus. The car, heading towards Chandigarh from Mohali, was being driven very fast. the eyewitness said.
“On hearing the sound of accident, we rushed to their rescue. The occupants of the car had probably died on the spot, hence, we turned to help the injured passengers in the bus,” Parvesh said.
He said, “While we were trying to help the injured passengers, suddenly the car got burnt and we called the fire brigade and local police. We managed to extricate the car occupants after half an hour of rescue operation,” added Parvesh Kumar.
The injured persons were rushed to Sector 32 Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) and Sector 16 Government Multi Speciality Hospital (GMSH), while two were referred to PGIMER. Dipanshu, Gaurav and Balrup were declared brought dead at GMSH, while Rupesh and Kavita died at PGIMER.
Vikram Singh, a friend of the deceased students, said they had gone to the house of a common friend in Mohali, to enjoy the weekend. He said they were at the residence of a friend and then went to take food at the night food street near PGIMER.
After having food, they all went back to Mohali. However, Gaurav and two others went to get some water from a nearby gurdwara at midnight.
“When they did not return even after two hours, I tried to contact them on mobile phone, but none of them were receiving their phones. We were shocked when I received phone call from police and they informed the Gaurav, Balrup and Dipanshu have died in an accident,” said Gaurav Arora, friend of deceased.
The family members of the deceased students had a difficult time identifying the dead bodies of their children.
“I was in shock when I saw the dead bodies of the three boys. It had 100 per cent burns. I was unable to identify the body of my son Balroop Singh,” said Swarn Singh, father of the deceased.
The local police have registered a case against the driver of bus, Surinder Pal Singh, and further investigations are under progress in the matter. However, the police have not ruled out the possibility of drunken driving by the students.