More fog, more accidents: Canal plunge in Mansa, pile-up in Bahadurgarh

Bathinda: The dense fog that has engulfed the region resulted in more accidents in Punjab and Haryana on Tuesday, but no casualty was reported. A light commercial vehicle, with 14 people on baord, plunged into the canal after colliding with an oncoming Maruti Alto at Bakshiwala village in Mansa district. Poor visibility, no railing along the canal and a narrow road were blamed for the mishap. As the canal had littled water, locals managed to rescue all the people in the LMV. The vehicle was later pulled out by a crane. The Alto car was coming from Lehragaga, and 14 persons in the LMV were going in the opposite direction to attend a bhog in Lehragaga. Bareta police station SHO Meela Singh said both sides reached a compromise, so no FIR was registered. He said only a couple of persons sustained minor injuries.

In Haryana, multiple vehicles collided on the Delhi-Sonipat road near Bahadurgarh amid dense fog. The incident left at least one-two people injured, as per an eyewitness.The accidents came on a day when visibility continued to be poor across the region. According to India Meteorological Department (IMD), there was zero visibility in Amritsar, Adampur, Halwara, and Pathankot cities of Punjab in the morning hours.

Visibility was down to 10 metres in Gurdaspur and Ludhiana, 20 metres in Patiala and Ballowal Saunkhri (Nawanshahr), and 40 metres in Bathinda. The situation was just as bad in neighbouring Haryana, where visibility dropped to five metres in Ambala, Rohtak and Bhiwani, and 10 metres in Hisar. Visibility was 40 metres in Chandigarh.As per IMD, dense to very dense fog conditions are likely to prevail during night and morning hours over Punjab, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh until Jan 1. Due to a western disturbance, isolated to scattered light to moderate rainfall and snowfall was likely over Himachal Pradesh from Dec 30 to Jan 2.