Five lecturers and two students of a private engineering college were killed when their bus collided head-on with a mud-laden dumper truck on the Saha-Shahzadpur Road in Ambala on Tuesday morning.
The bus, belonging to SRM Institute of Engineering and Technology, Bhurewala, was taking the staff and students from Ambala to the institute premises when the mishap took place.
According to the driver of the bus, it was when the vehicle had reached Rajpura on the NH 72 that the dumper truck coming from the opposite Shahzadpur side rammed it while trying to overtake a vehicle.
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The impact was so severe that the dumper collapsed on the bus, filling it with mud. As a consequence all the 29 people travelling by the bus sustained injuries. People in the vicinity rushed to the aid of the trapped passengers. But before they could be extricated five of the victims had died. Two others died in hospital.
The deceased were later identified as lecturers Pramod, Amir Khan, Kesar Singh, Deepak and a lady, Vipin. The two students who died in the accident were identified as Manish and Ankit Gupta.
The 22 injured were taken to different hospitals in Ambala, Rajpura and Chandigarh. While 14 of them were admitted in Civil Hospital, Ambala, five were taken to Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) in Chandigarh, and three to a hospital in Rajpura.
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The Ambala police have registered a case of causing death due to rash and negligent driving and have launched a search for the driver of the truck who jumped off the vehicle and absconded soon after the incident.