Chandigarh: One person was killed while 11 others were swept away after a Trax Cruiser jeep they were travelling in, plunged into the Bhakra canal in Haryana’s Fatehabad district Friday evening.
The tragic incident occurred near Sardarewala village in Ratia tehsil of Fatehabad district due to dense fog, police said and added that most of the 14 passengers of the vehicle were from Mehmara village who were returning after attending a marriage in the bordering Fazilka district of Punjab.
According to police, the vehicle fell into the Bhakra canal when it reached near the said village and the driver reportedly lost control of the vehicle because of poor visibility due to heavy fog.
Stating that while one man and a 10-year old boy managed to get out of the strong water currents of the canal, the police said the remaining 12 were swept away. The members of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) said that while the body of a man had been retrieved, efforts were on to trace the 11 missing passengers with the help of divers. The man and the boy had been taken to Ratia civil hospital for treatment.
