2 students killed as bus overturns on Amritsar-Pathankot national highway

A private bus overturned on the Amritsar-Pathankot national highway on Friday, leaving two students dead and five injured, police said.Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann expressed grief over the incident and announced a financial assistance of Rs 2 lakh each to the next of kin of the two who died and free treatment to those injured.The news of the bus overturning near Sekhwan police station in Batala is extremely heartbreaking.

A private bus overturned on the Amritsar-Pathankot national highway on Friday, leaving two students dead and five injured, police said.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann expressed grief over the incident and announced a financial assistance of Rs 2 lakh each to the next of kin of the two who died and free treatment to those injured.

''The news of the bus overturning near Sekhwan police station in Batala is extremely heartbreaking. I express profound grief over the two deaths in this accident,'' Mann said in a post on X in Punjabi.

The deceased, both aged around 23, hailed from Jammu, Station House Officer of Sekhwan police station in Batala, Rajwant Kaur said.

The deceased were students from a college in Punjab, she said, adding that around 10 students were among the passengers travelling in the bus.

''Five injured, including three who sustained head injuries, were shifted to a hospital in Gurdaspur,'' the officer said, adding that a few more passengers were hurt, but they only required first aid.

The cause of the accident is yet to be ascertained.

Police reached the spot immediately after getting information about the incident, she said.

A student on the bus, who escaped with minor injury, told reporters that they were headed home to Jammu as their exams had ended.

''I was sitting in the back seat when suddenly the bus overturned. We don't know what caused the accident,'' he said.