The family of Manchandas based in northwest Delhi’s Shalimar Bagh lost five members in a road accident in Haryana’s Ambala district early on Wednesday.
The accident occurred at around 5 am near Devi Nagar when a minibus lost balance after one its rear tyres got punctured. The bus jumped the road divider and collided w
ith a truck. Six people, including the driver of the bus, were killed in the accident while eight others sustained critical injuries.
Kamal Manchanda, 47, who runs a readymade garments store in Walled City, suffered serious injuries in the incident.
But he lost his 13-year-old son Karan, a Class 8 student, while the husband of his wife’s sister, Gulshan Arora, his son Parth, his brother-in-law, Parminder Singh Sachdev and his wife Kusum were also died in the mishap.
The police said Manchandas had left their residence on Wednesday at around 2 am for a vacation to Dharamsala in Himachal and the bus met the tragedy in the early hours of Wednesday. Those injured in the accident have been identified as Kamal’s wife Preeti and daughter Priyanka, Gulshan’s wife Pallavi Arora, Parminder’s daughter Nancy and son Ridham and Sumedha.
Manchandas’s house wore a deserted look on Wednesday with the neighbours huddling in corners around the bungalow to express grief about the tragedy.
“We are not able to believe the news. Karan was just like my son. I loved him as he was classmate of my son at Goodley Public School. I usually used to drop him along with my son at their school. He was very good at studies and a well-mannered child,” said Rajesh Goel, a property dealer.
Manchanda’s younger brothers Raman and Kamal runs a medicine shop near to their house. According to the shopkeepers, the news broke in the area on Wednesday morning. “When we inquired why the shop was closed, we learnt that the elder brother of Raman and his family had met with an accident. It is very unfortunate,” said Rajesh, who runs a juice shop.
The bodies of the deceased will be brought to Delhi on Thursday.