Three college girls killed, 25 injured in train-bus collision

Jalandhar, Nov 23 (UNI) Three girls were killed and 25 others injured when a bus carrying them to college was hit by a train on an unmanned railway crossing near Gumtali on Phillaur--Noormahal railway section this morning.

Divisional Railway Manager V K Gupta told UNI that the driver of the private bus Kulwinder Singh managed to escape leaving the vehicle behind.

The bus was broken into pieces due to the impact of the collision and fell into the ditch by the side of the railway line.

Some eyewitnesses claimed that the bus driver was driving carelessly and had continued to cross the track instead of waiting for the fast approaching Firozepur bound 3307UP Dhanwad Express train to pass.

The deceased, all students of Arya College for Women, Noormahal, were identified as Aiasha, Taljinder and Kiranjit Kaur of village Pasla. Eight of the seriously injured girls have been reffered to to the DMC Hospital, Ludhiana where they were stated to be in critical condition while others are being treated in local institutions.

Mr Gupta, after inspecting the accident site, visited the hospitals in Bilga, Ludhiana, Nakodar and Pasla to enquire about the condition of the injured students.

The DRM said a high-level departmental enquiry has been ordered and three members enquiry board has been set up.

The railway will bear the medical treatment of the injured girls, he said.

Earlier, Cooperative Minister Amarjit Singh Samra had rushed to the spot along with officials on directives from Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh.

The chief minister has announced ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh to next of kin of each deceased. A relief of Rs 50,000 has been granted to seriously injured while Rs 10,000 to other injured students.

Meanwhile, replying to a query, the DRM said there were 1000 unmanned railway crossings in Firozepur division comprising Punjab, Himachal Pardesh, and Jammu and Kashmir and 500 of them were considered to have a rush of vehicular traffic.

He said the Railways had started work to identify the sensitive unmanned railway crossings to convert them into manned railway crossings in phases.

UNI XC JN MSJ RK1924