SAMBA: In a tragic car accident at Nanke Chak last night, two young people perished, including a bridegroom who was scheduled to attend his marriage reception here. A Breeza car with registration number JK21-G 1311, reportedly carrying the groom and his friend, was en route from Lengath village to Samba. It was struck by a swift caravan with registration number PB04N 9375 that was travelling from Punjab to Jammu after it arrived at Nanke Chak. Two young people were killed on the spot, including the unfortunate bridegroom who was scheduled to attend his marriage reception ceremony at Samba on Sunday night, when the caravan pulled the car behind it for a short distance before turning into a turtle and crushing the car beneath it.The bridegroom, Sushil Kumar, son of Mansukh Dayal of Langath near Nanke Chak, Samba, and his friend, Romi, son of Ashok Kumar of Nanke Chak, were identified as the deceased. The bridegroom planned to take his wife, who had gone to the Beauty Parlour at Samba for makeup, to her wedding. But as soon as word got out about the bridegroom’s and his friend’s deaths, all the celebration and merriment quickly gave way to grief. Family members, friends, and other relatives of the deceased were shocked by the pall of gloom that had descended upon the marriage reception party. According to reports, the dead bodies were trapped inside the car when it turned turtle and was crushed by a trailer.After frantic efforts by police and Traffic Police officers, who used cutters to cut the car in order to extract the bodies, they were removed from it. The police brought the deceased bodies to Samba Hospital for a postmortem and other official procedures. The police have started a manhunt to search the trailer’s driver, who is also at large. The collision caused a massive traffic jam on the Jammu-Pathankot National Highway, trapping cars for up to five kilometres. To clear the congestion and resume traffic on the highway, police and traffic police had to work together for hours. People from the surrounding areas flocked to the scene in a state of panic shortly after the accident. The bodies were trapped in the caravan, which had crushed the car beyond recognition, so they also called the police to remove the dead bodies. Two days prior, Sushil’s marriage ceremony was held, and on Sunday, the family hosted a reception for the marriage at a Samba marriage hall.
