Seven killed in bus-harvest combine collision

Amritsar, Jul 24 (UNI) Seven people were killed and 11 injured in a mini bus-harvest combine collision near Naushara Panwan in Tarn Taran distict today.

The accident occurred when the driver of the harvest combine suddenly took a turn and the heavy vehicle's back portion hit and toppled a mini bus going from Harike to Tarn Taran.

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has announced an ex-gratia of Rs one lakh each for the next of kin of the deceased.

The Chief Minister also announced Rs 50,000 and Rs 25,000 each for the accident victim with serious and minor injuries respectively.

The police have registered a case against the absconding driver of the harvest combine, under Section 304, on the complaint of the mini bus driver.

Six of the deceased have been identified as havildar Bikramjit Singh, Chhindar Singh Sarali, Harinder Singh, Kuljit Singh, Rohit Puri all hailing from Punjab and Manoj Kumar, who belonged to West Bengal.

One of the deceased, who died in the Guru Nanak hospital because of serious injuries, was yet to be identified, police said.

While some of the injured were admitted to the civil hospital at Tarn Taran, others were brought to the civil hospital here.

Mr Badal asked the Deputy Commissioner Taran Taran to ensure free treatment to the injured and transportation of the bodies to their destination.

In another accident, two motorcycle-borne youths, identified as Arun Kumar and Ranjit Singh, died on the spot when their motorcycle collided head-on with a van near Gill village on the Moga-Kotkapura road, 8 km from Moga.

Their bodies were sent to Moga civil hospital for post-mortem.

The driver of the van abandoned the vehicle and fled.

The motorcyclists were going from Baghapurana to Moga while the van was on its way to Baghapurana, a report from Moga said.

UNI XC-JN AE KN1732