Eighteen persons, including six women and five children, were killed in a head-on collision between a Canter and a truck near Ghal Kalan village on the Moga-Ferozepur national highway in the wee hours here today.
The victims hailed from Daulatpura Uchha and Daulatpura Niwan villages of the Moga district. They were returning home in the Canter (HP-73-1054) after paying obeisance at the Nanaksar Kaleran gurdwara situated in the Jagraon subdivision of Ludhiana district.
The accident took place around 2 am. While 14 persons were killed on the spot, four others died in a Moga hospital. No one travelling in the Canter could survive.
Preliminary investigations by the police revealed that the speeding truck (PB-29G-9765) crashed head-on with the Canter while trying to overtake some vehicle. Satpal Singh Bhangu SP (D) said the truck driver fled from the spot leaving behind his vehicle.
