Kullu: Four people were killed and six grievously injured when two trucks collided head-on inside a tunnel on Manali-Kiratpur highway in Mandi district on Thursday morning. Three of the dead are from Uttar Pradesh.According to Mandi police, the accident occurred around 8am when a Punjab-registered truck travelling from Mandi towards Kullu crashed into a Himachal truck in Tunnel No. 12 near Hanogi, around 45km from Kullu.Alerted by a passing motorist, police sent a rescue team that pulled out the victims from the wrecked vehicles and took them to a nearby govt hospital. Shakeel from UP’s Bijnor, Vishal and Ravi Kumar from UP’s Firozabad and Meghnath Sharma from West Champaran, Bihar, were declared dead on arrival.The survivors — four of whom are from UP — have been referred to Kullu Regional Hospital and Govt Medical College, Nerchowk, Mandi.Preliminary probe suggests speeding and overtaking led to the accident, said an officer. A case has been registered at Aut police station. Traffic was disrupted for some time after the accident.
