Six people, including five wedding guests and the truck driver, were killed, and seven others critically injured after a speeding truck rammed into a bus carrying a wedding party and overturned on it in Uttar Pradesh’s Hapur district in the early hours of Monday, police said.
According to police, the accident occurred around 1.30am on the Dhaulana-Gulawathi road, about 22km from the Hapur district headquarters, under the Dhaulana police station area.
Hapur Superintendent of Police (SP) Gyananjay Singh said the bus, carrying around 20 wedding guests, was returning to Ghaziabad’s Dasna after attending a marriage function in Bulandshahr’s Gulawathi when the incident took place.
“A bus carrying passengers returning from a wedding ceremony was hit by a truck. Prima facie, overspeeding and poor visibility due to darkness appear to have led to the accident,” the SP said.
Police said the bus had been stationed on the roadside on a narrow stretch of road when the truck, coming from the opposite direction at high speed, crashed into it. The impact caused the truck to overturn onto the bus, crushing a portion of the vehicle and trapping several passengers inside.
Local police and rescue teams rushed to the spot after being alerted by other wedding guests who were standing outside the bus. Some passengers were evacuated after breaking the bus windows, while others had to be rescued using gas cutters as they were pinned inside the mangled vehicle, officials said.
The injured were first taken to the Dhaulana Community Health Centre (CHC) and later referred to Rama Medical College, Pilkhuwa, and GS Medical College for advanced treatment.
Dhaulana Station House Officer (SHO) Avneesh Sharma said seven people remain in serious condition and are undergoing treatment. He said the deceased have been identified as Yunus (50), Yusuf (55), Akhtar (40), Sonu (25), and Munna (60). All five deceased and the seven injured are residents of Dasna in Ghaziabad, police said.
He said the sixth person who died in the incident is the truck driver, whose identity had not been formally confirmed at the time of filing this report. Further legal proceedings are underway, and police are examining the exact circumstances leading to the crash.
