Title - Head constable killed, ASI hurt in train-car collision at unmanned level crossing

Bathinda;
A 32-year-old head constable was killed and an ASI received serious injuries after the car they were travelling in collided with a speeding train near Jassi Baghwali village here today. The railway traffic remained suspended for over an hour following the mishap.The accident occurred at around 2.15 pm when ASI Mukhtiar Singh and head constable Surinderpal Singh of the Sangat police station were going towards Bandi village in a Maruti Alto car with the ASI at the wheel.The policemen were assigned an inquiry concerning a land dispute in the village.On Jassi Baghwali-Bandi road, while they were trying to cross the C-21, an unmanned railway crossing on the Bathinda-Hanumangarh railway line, a train coming from Dabwali towards Bathinda hit with the car.While the ASI fell off the car, the head constable got sandwiched between the train and the car.The Sangat police station in-charge, Sandeep Bhati, said the policemen were on duty and were on way to investigate a case. "We have no idea how the accident happened and it is being probed," the SHO said.The SHO rushed to the spot and shifted the injured ASI to the Civil Hospital from where he was referred to the Max Superspeciality.The ASI received a serious spinal cord injury besides fractures in an arm and a leg.The police said the doctors stated that the ASI was out of danger but will take a long time to recover completely.The deceased head constable was a resident of Lohara village in Muktsar district. He had two children, including a 15-year-old boy and an eight-year-old daughter.ASI Mukhtiar Singh lives in a rented accommodation in Bathinda.It is pertinent to mention here that a large number of road deaths are reported in the past on the unmanned railway crossing as the approaching train is not usually spotted by the passersby.Pali Mashana, a volunteer of the Sangat Sahara, said despite umpteen requests and representations to the district administration and railway officials, nothing was done to convert the unmanned crossing into a manned one.

Fact file

The accident occurred at around 2.15 pm when ASI Mukhtiar Singh and head constable Surinderpal Singh of the Sangat police station were going towards Bandi village in a Maruti Alto car with the ASI at the wheel.