At least 13 government school teachers, including five women, died in a road accident on Friday morning near Chandipur village located nine kms from Punjab's city of Fazilka. There were 15 people travelling in the vehicle.
The teachers were on their way to their schools in a jeep. According to eyewitnesses, a head-on collision between the jeep and a truck resulted in the loss of lives. There were newly appointed ETT teachers also in the jeep.
The deceased have been identified as Sanjiv Bagla (Shatirwala village near Fazilka), Shankar Lal (Fazilka), Manohar Lal (Abohar), Ram Pal (Abohar), Satinderjit Singh (Fazilka) Ashish (Faizlika), Nazam (Killianwali), Sanjeev Kumar, Bindia (Abohar), Tejinder Kaur (Fazilka), Shetal Kakkar (Fazilka), Natasha (Balluana) and Kiran Bala (Fazilka), the Chandigarh Tribune reported.
One of the teachers named Gopi Chand was critically injured and has been shifted to a hospital in Abohar. The bodies of the deceased teachers have been shifted to Fazilka's Civil Hospital.
The local Beopar Mandal called for a bandh following which shops downed their shutters to show solidarity with the bereaved families. Senior leaders from across political parties also reached the local civil hospital.
Punjab: 13 people dead in a road accident in Fazilka due to fog pic.twitter.com/aUHC55paUv
— ANI (@ANI_news) December 9, 2016
