Nine killed in jeep-truck collision

Ludhiana, Mar 7 (UNI) Nine people, including six women, were killed on the spot when their jeep collided head-on with a truck near village Pandori, about 20 km from here.

Five of the deceased belonged to the same family and have been identified as Ajayab Singh (45), his wife Bashinder (44), daughter Gurpreet (20), sister Gurmeet Kaur (35), brother-in-law Som Singh (50), and the driver of the hjeep Sarvan Singh (40) and three family friends Jaswinder Kaur (48) , Devi (45) and Mukwider Kaur (47), the Jagraon SSP Shiv Kumar said.

According to Ajayab Singh's son Satnam, who was travelling in another vehicle along with his newly-wed wife to her maternal house in Malerkotla, the jeep on which his father was travelling ahead of them was on high-speed and was tyring to overtake a truck when another truck coming from opposite direction collided with the vehicle.

All the victims died on the spot, he said.

The police has impounded the truck and registered a case against the driver, who was absconding, the SSP said.

Expressing profound grief and sorrow over the tragic accident, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has announced Rs one lakh each for the families of the deceased.

UNI