Kullu: Two devotees from Amritsar were killed and 13 others injured, three of them critically, when a private bus carrying around 35 pilgrims overturned near Shahtalai on the Deotsidh-Shahtalai road in Himachal Pradesh on Sunday night.The accident occurred around 9:45 pm at a sharp bend along the Bilaspur-Hamirpur border as the group was returning to Shahtalai after visiting the Baba Balak Nath shrine. Initial investigations suggest the driver lost control due to overspeeding. Police identified the deceased as Hitesh Kumar (24) and Kavya (15). One passenger died at the spot, while the second succumbed to injuries at the hospital, according to police. Locals reached the site first, rescuing trapped passengers before emergency teams arrived. Among the critically injured, Vinayak (16) was referred to PGI, Chandigarh, while Sheeba (20) and Rohit Kumar (30) were sent to Regional Hospital in Hamirpur. Ten others — Darpan (19), Renu (35), Bhag Singh (35), Sukhwinder Singh (47), Lovedeep (18), Kajal (21), Gurkirat Singh (19), Gurdeep Singh (70), Jasveer Kaur (40) and Yuvraj (16) — are receiving treatment at Civil Hospital in Barsar, while those with minor injuries were discharged after receiving first aid. Bilaspur deputy commissioner Rahul Kumar and SP Abhishek Dhiman visited the site to oversee operations. The administration has distributed Rs 1 lakh in immediate relief to the victims and their families and police have launched an investigation into the crash. Teen swept away as bike falls into river A 19-year-old youth is feared dead after a motorcycle carrying two friends plunged nearly 150 metres into Sal river on the Chamba-Saho road late Sunday night. The accident occurred around 11pm when the two were returning home from the opening cultural evening of the International Minjar Fair in Chamba. While one of the riders, Shubham, 20, a resident of Saru village, was rescued, his companion, Saksham, also from the same village, was swept away by the strong current of the rivulet. MSID:: 132661006 413 |
