Jaipur, June 12 (IANS) A bus carrying around 40 tourists collided with a truck loaded with iron angles in Haryana’s Mahendragarh district early Friday morning, leaving the bus driver and conductor dead and around 16 passengers injured, several of them critically.

The accident took place near the Buchawas cut on National Highway 152-D at around 5 a.m.

According to preliminary information, the bus was returning to Jaipur from Manali when it crashed into a truck parked on the roadside.

The impact was so severe that the iron angles being transported by the truck pierced through the front portion of the bus, completely destroying the driver’s cabin. Police suspect that the bus driver may have dozed off before the collision, though the exact cause is under investigation. The force of the crash left the front section of the bus completely wrecked and threw several passengers from their seats toward the front of the vehicle.

The driver, Somveer (30), a resident of Vijayanagar in Jaipur, and conductor Dilkhush (31) died on the spot.

Eyewitnesses said panic spread among passengers immediately after the crash. Local residents and police personnel rushed to the scene and rescued trapped tourists by pulling them out through the bus windows. Injured passengers said that they felt a sudden and violent jolt when the bus hit the truck.

All injured passengers were shifted to the Civil Hospital in Mahendragarh for treatment. Some have been admitted to the Critical Care Unit, and at least 11 are reported to be in serious condition. Most of the passengers on board were residents of Jaipur and other parts of Rajasthan.

The injured include Nalin Jain (40), Prateek (28), Surendra (49), Subhash Chandra (38), Ashish (44), Yashasvi (29), Wasim Akhtar (46), Abhimanyu (38), Ashutosh (27), Avinash (24), Gaurav (25), Priyanka (28), and Prachi (25), all from Jaipur. Others injured in the accident are Sohan (30) from Chandigarh, Rohit (30) from Dausa in Rajasthan, and Khushi (18) from Paonta.

Police have launched an investigation into the incident and are examining all possible causes of the crash.

–IANS

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