2 killed in car-train crash as barriers not lowered
Two men were killed and two suffered serious injuries when a passenger train rammed into their car at a crossing after the guard failed to lower the barriers at Jhingar Kalan near Dasuya, around 40km from here, on Sunday.
Two men were killed and two suffered serious injuries when a passenger train rammed into their car at a crossing after the guard failed to lower the barriers at Jhingar Kalan near Dasuya, around 40km from here, on Sunday.
The crash occurred around 6.50pm when the Jalandhar-Pathankot passenger train (no. 54621) was barely 5km from the Dasuya station, and the collision resulted in the death of Balbir Singh, who was driving the Maruti Esteem, and Navjot Singh sitting by his side. Talwinder Singh and Amrit Singh, who were in the backseat of the sedan, were seriously injured and admitted to the Dasuya civil hospital, around 40 km from here.
Even as the crossing guard, Sardar Masih, claimed that he had no information about the train's timing, and Dasuya station master RP Srivastava blamed the guard in turn, both were taken into custody by the Government Railway Police (GRP) after hundreds of villagers protested against the fatal negligence of the railway authorities. GRP authorities from Jalandhar seized the record concerned, though sources told HT that the train was on schedule.
Pacified by the Dasuya police and the GRP personnel who reached the site, the protesters allowed the train to move after about an hour.
GRP assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Narinder Singh said, "We have detained the guard and the station master, and will lodge a formal case after preliminary investigation."
Among the victims, Amrit hailed from Hussainpur and the other three were natives of Jhingar Kalan. Coming from Hoshiarpur, they were nearing their destination in Jhingar Kalan when the mishap occurred.
The victims' bodies were shifted to the Dasuya civil hospital where the post-mortem examination would be conducted on Monday, the police said.