A Young Dream Silenced: Kerala Student Dies in Tragic Phagwara Fog Pile-Up

It's truly heartbreaking to report on such a profound loss, especially when it involves a young life brimming with potential. The serene morning of Saturday, which should have been just another day, instead devolved into a nightmare on the national highway near Phagwara, Punjab. A devastating multi-vehicle pile-up, shrouded in an incredibly dense fog, tragically claimed the life of Sijo Kuriakose, a bright 22-year-old B.Tech student hailing all the way from Kerala.

Sijo, who was pursuing his studies at Lovely Professional University (LPU), was, like countless other students, simply trying to get somewhere with friends. He was a passenger in a Maruti Swift car, likely sharing some light conversation or perhaps just quietly observing the journey. But as they navigated that notoriously busy stretch of highway, visibility, you see, was absolutely abysmal—the kind of thick, soupy fog that makes you second-guess every turn, every brake light ahead. It was a truly perilous setting, a silent invitation to disaster, hanging heavy in the air.

And disaster, unfortunately, struck with brutal swiftness. Their car, unable to discern the danger through that almost impenetrable veil of mist, slammed into the rear of a stationary truck. Can you imagine the sudden, terrifying impact? Before anyone could even truly process what had just happened, before the initial shock had time to even fully set in, the situation escalated dramatically. A bus, following close behind, then ploughed directly into Sijo's already damaged car, effectively sandwiching it between the larger, unforgiving vehicles. And as if that wasn't enough chaos for one morning, another car then collided with the bus, completing a horrific, tragic chain reaction.

The scene, one can only imagine, was utterly devastating. Sijo Kuriakose, in that cruel, disorienting instant, lost his life right there on the spot. His friends, who had been traveling with him, thankfully survived the horrific ordeal but sustained various injuries, a grim testament to the sheer, crushing force of the collisions. It’s a moment that will undoubtedly haunt them for a very long time, a shared trauma from a morning that went so terribly, terribly wrong.

Following the crash, in what has become a sadly common occurrence in such incidents, the driver of the truck involved in the initial collision reportedly fled the scene, leaving behind a trail of destruction and immense sorrow. Local authorities, specifically the Phagwara Sadar Police, have since registered a case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, including charges related to rash driving and causing death by negligence. This tragic incident, yet another casualty of poor visibility and potentially reckless driving, serves as a heartbreaking, stark reminder of just how fragile life can be on our roads, especially when nature throws such challenging conditions our way. Our thoughts, certainly, are with Sijo's grieving family and friends during this unimaginably difficult time.