7 of a family killed in Raj road accident

Jaipur: Seven members of a family, including four women, were killed and two others were injured in a head-on collision between a car and a truck in Rajasthan’s Hanumangarh district, police said on Sunday.

The accident took place between Lakhuwali and Shergarh on the Mega Highway on Saturday night when the family was returning home from a birthday function about four kilometers away in Adarsh Nagar village. All the victims were residents of Naurangdesar village in Hanumangarh. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has expressed grief over the accident.

SHO Ved Pal said those killed were identified as Paramjeet Kaur (60), Khushvinder Singh (25), his wife Paramjeet Kaur (22), son Manjot Singh (5), Rampal (36), his wife Reena (35) and daughter Reet (12).

The injured, who have been identified as Akashdeep Singh (14) and Manraj Kaur (2), were referred to a hospital in Bikaner. Their condition is stated to be critical, police said. He said that bodies were handed over to the family members after a post-mortem. The truck driver is being searched for as he fled from the spot after the accident.

Police said the preliminary investigation has revealed the truck was trying to overtake from the wrong direction. The accident was so severe that the car turned into a metal heap. The front of the car was so badly damaged that it took time to get the bodies out and take the injured to the hospital. “The death of seven people in a road accident in Hanumangarh is very sad. I pray to god for peace to the souls of the deceased and courage to the families. I appeal to everyone to be extremely careful while driving on the road. One small mistake gives lifelong pain to everyone,” Gehlot said on X.