Three persons were killed and forty others injured, nine of them seriously, in a collision between two buses on the Moga-Amritsar road in this district of Punjab on Friday, police said.
Those killed and injured were travelling in a minibus which was on its from Zira town to Chandigarh carrying supporters of Congress who were to attend the installation ceremony of Navjot Singh Sidhu as Punjab Congress chief.
The minibus collided with a state-owned PEPSU roadways bus near Lohara village, police said.
Moga Deputy Commissioner Sandeep Hans said the people who were killed have been identified as Virsa Singh, Vickey and Gurtej Singh.
The nine seriously injured were referred to a hospital in Ludhiana, police said.
"Saddened to learn of the bus accident in Moga district in which 3 Congress workers have reportedly died & many persons are injured. Have directed DC Moga to immediately provide full medical treatment to all the injured and to send a report to the Government," Chief Minister Amarinder Singh tweeted.
He directed Moga district administration to immediately provide compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to families of the victims and Rs 50,000 each to those seriously injured in the incident.
Free treatment will be provided to all others who sustained minor injuries, the chief minister said in another tweet.
In Chandigarh, during the installation ceremony of Mr Sidhu, the Punjab Congress observed a two-minute silence as a mark of respect to those killed in the accident.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
