New Delhi, June 03: Six persons from the Capital, five of them members of a joint family, died after the mini-bus they were travelling on hit a speeding truck in Ambala on Wednesday. The family, based in Shalimar Bagh East, was on a tour to Vaishno Devi shrine. Six others were injured in the incident.
The families of Gulshan Arora, Harminder Singh Sachdeva and Kamal Manchanda left Delhi at 2 am. Their bus collided with the truck around 6 am on the Ambala Highway. Four adults and two children were killed on the spot.
The deceased have been identified as Gulshan Arora (35), his son Parth (10), Harminder Singh Sachdeva (35), his wife Kusum (32), Karan Manchanda (14) and the driver of the bus Sonu, a senior police officer said.
Karan’s uncle Kapil Manchanda who went to Ambala early in the morning to receive the bodies, said: “The driver of the bus dosed off while driving and his vehicle went into the wrong lane, hitting a speeding truck. Karan and four of his maternal relatives died on the spot, while the other passengers were severely injured.”
The postmortem of the bodies were conducted at the Ambala Civil Hospital. Karan’s father Kamal Manchanda (45) and sister Priyanka were admitted in Chandigarh PGI while his mother Preeti and her family members were shifted to a hospital in Janakpuri from Ambala Civil hospital.
Shubhash Bajaj (62), a relative said, “This is a big joint family — four brothers and their families live in the same house. We received the news early morning and rushed to Ambala to identify the bodies.”
Karan studied in Class VIII in Goodley Public School. Karan’s father Kamal owns a chemist shop in Shalimar Bagh, the other three brothers run a cloth store in Krishna market, Chandni Chowk.
Shakti Manchanda, Karan’s cousin, said, “The driver’s negligence caused the accident. We will take action against the travel agency. We are waiting for Karan’s father and sister to arrive, after which we will cremate the bodies in Punjabi Bagh.” Kamal and his daughter were reportedly released from Chandigarh PGI at around 4 pm.
Karan’s aunt Meena Bajaj said, “The family had planned to visit various tourist spots of Himachal Pradesh after visiting the Vaishno Devi shrine.”
—-PTI