3 Congress party workers killed, 50 others injured in bus accident in India’s Punjab

NEW DELHI: JULY 23 – Three Congress party workers heading to attend a political function were killed and 50 others injured after the bus they were travelling in collided with another vehicle Friday in the northern Indian state of Punjab, police said.

The accident took place on the Jalandhar-Barnala road at Lohara Chowk in Moga district, about 170 km west of Chandigarh, the capital city of Punjab.

“Today three persons were killed and 50 others injured when a Punjab Roadways bus and a private minibus collided near Lohara village here. Three people identified as Congress party workers were killed, while 50 others were injured in the mishap,” a police officer posted in Moga said.

“The injured, most of them Congress workers, were rushed to the district hospital and three seriously injured were referred to Guru Gobind Singh Medical College and hospital at Faridkot,” the police officer said.

According to police, the Congress party workers were going to Chandigarh to participate in a party event.

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh offered condolences to the victims in a statement posted on social media.

The cause of the accident was not immediately known.

Deadly road accidents are common in India often caused by overloading, bad condition of roads and reckless driving.

Around 150,000 people are killed every year in around half a million road accidents across India, officials said.

Last month India’s federal Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari said the government has set a target to reduce road accident deaths by 50 per cent by 2024.

-XINHUA