Five people were killed and nine others injured after an overcrowded van carrying agricultural workers from Uttar Pradesh was hit by an unidentified vehicle on the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway near IMT Kharkhoda on Thursday.
Kharkhoda police have launched an investigation and are examining CCTV footage from nearby locations to identify the vehicle and its driver. The injured have been identified as Newa Ram, Pramod, Sanjeev, Mahendra Pal, Fatilal, Harishankar, Khushali, Chhotu and Vivek. The impact was so severe that the front portion of the Eco was badly damaged, killing three people on the spot. Police and local residents rescued the injured from the mangled vehicle and rushed them to the government hospital in Kharkhoda. Six seriously injured labourers were referred to PGIMS, Rohtak. Preliminary reports described it as a truck, while the police complaint records the incident as a hit-and-run involving an unidentified vehicle.
Police said the accident took place around 4 am on Thursday when 12 labourers from Badepura village in Pilibhit district were travelling to Jhajjar for bajra harvesting work.
One of the deceased was identified as Ramnaresh, a resident of Badepura of Pilipbhit in Uttar Pradesh, the other deceased could not be identified yet, according to the police. The bodies of the deceased were sent to Sonepat civil hospital for postmortem, while the victims’ families in Pilibhit were informed, the police said. Inspector Anil Kumar incharge of Kharkhoda police station said that the identity of the vehicle that struck the Eco van was not yet known. Inspector Anil Kumar incharge of Kharkhoda police station said that three labourers died in the incident while the injured have been admitted to hospital. He said that the identity of the vehicle that struck the Eco was not yet known.
