CHRISTCHURCH – Two Sikh boys have died after a car crash in Christchurch on Tuesday, March 28.
The victims have been identified as Kamal Preet Singh, 22, of Khasi Kalaan, District Ludhiana, Punjab, and Lovepreet Waraich,19, Village Ghumar Majra, Haryana from India.
Both the boys died on the scene after a north-bound Freight Lines truck crashed into the white car that these boys were travelling in.
Observing the ‘severity of the crash’, Police confirmed that the two occupants had died on the scene. However, the truck driver was not injured.
Kamal was currently on job search visa and was working at Metro Glass while Lovepreet had come to New Zealand on student visa six months ago.
According to reports, the boys were coming back after dropping their friend’s wife from airport to her home about 100 km from the location of the accident at about 8 a.m. when the incident took place.
A source told media that the families of the boys had been informed about the incident.
The Indian High Commission is in touch with next of kin Narinder Singh and local community leader Amrit Singh. They have been informed that the Indian High Commissioner will bear all the costs to send Kamal’s body back home while that for Lovepreet will be covered by his insurance.
A visibly upset Mr Narinder Warraich, cousin of Lovepreet, who also lives in Christchurch. said that he was shocked.
“He was such a young boy. We don’t know yet what might have been the cause for the accident.
“The accident happened in the morning and we got to know about it at night only. But now the [Indian] High Commission is in touch and is providing full support.”
Mr Amrit, who has been liaising with the Indian High Commission on the family’s behalf, added,
“This is such a great loss to the community both here, and back home in India. While Lovepreet was still studying, Kamal has just started working in Metro Glass. They both had promising careers in front of them.”
In the past too, the Indian High Commission, under the dynamic leadership of Sanjiv Kohli, has taken prompt initiatives to extend help to the grieving friends and families in similar situations.
After hearing the shock news, the local Indian community gathered at the local Gurudwara Singh Sabha Christchurch today afternoon to show solidarity with the family and chalk out details on how to extend any help to the grief-stricken family.
They are appealing community members to come forward and donate to provide financial support to the grieving families.
The details of bank account where the donations can be made are as below
BNZ 02-0874-0248293-01
Gurudwara Singh Sabha bank account
Kindly add your name and ‘funeral support’ under reference.
By the time of last update form police, the scene examination was completed and police are now requesting any witness who would have been around Mouse Point Road in Culverden, North Canterbury on Tuesday 28 March just after 8 a.m., to contact their nearest police station immediately.