Chandigarh, Dec 8 (IANS) In a horrific midnight road accident, a speeding car collided with a divider in Punjab’s Ludhiana city, killing five people, comprising two minors, on the spot.

Some suffered head injuries, while others had severed necks and legs. The police said the accident occurred near the Ladhowal toll plaza early Monday. The car, a Hyundai Verna, was going to Ladhowal from Ludhiana.

According to the police, the car driver lost control, hit a divider, overturned and was dragged several metres from the accident spot. The cause of the accident is yet to be ascertained.

The dead included two minor girls and three youngsters. All of them belong to Jagraon town. The bodies were sent to the Civil Hospital in Ludhiana.

Assistant Sub Inspector Kashmir Singh told the media that the police reached the spot and called the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) ambulance.

The bodies were removed from the car and taken to the Civil Hospital. He said efforts are underway to contact the families of the deceased.

To make emergency services more accessible and efficient, Punjab Police in August launched an integrated NHAI helpline ‘1033’ and the cyber crime helpline ‘1930’ with the dial 112, the state’s unified emergency response system. This integration now allows citizens to simply dial ‘112’ to report highway accidents, breakdowns, and hazards, as well as financial fraud and cybercrimes. Till now, the ‘112’ helpline has been used only to report different crimes happening across the state.

According to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, 65 per cent of the road fatalities take place on the national and state highways, adding that most of these fatal accidents take place between 6 p.m. and 12 p.m., when the presence of police on these roads is minimal. The Chief Minister last year flagged off 144 hi-tech vehicles of the specialised ‘Sadak Surakhya Force’ (SSF) to streamline traffic movement and check road accidents in the state.

–IANS

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