A month ago, Parampreet Punia was "happy" and celebrating his 23rd birthday. Today, his family and friends are grieving his loss.
Mr Punia was transporting blood from Melbourne to Adelaide for the Red Cross when his van collided with the back of a vegetable truck on the South Eastern Freeway, at the Adelaide Road intersection at about 4:30 am on Saturday.
The van burst into flames after hitting the truck. Source: Keryn Stevens/AAP
“This morning (Saturday), the driver of a van carrying blood supplies from Melbourne to Adelaide died in a crash near Murray Bridge. Police are currently investigating,” Greg Wilkie, the Acting Chief Executive of Australian Red Cross Blood Service said in a statement on Saturday.
“Our deepest sympathies and thoughts are with the family, friends, and co-workers of the driver.”
The truck driver escaped injury and was transferred to a nearby hospital after the incident.
The investigators are yet to establish how and why the van caught fire.
An only son, Mr Punia had been living with his distant relatives in the inner southern suburb of Clovelly Park in Adelaide. He had arrived in Australia in December 2015 and was initially living with his friends in Melbourne.
They were forced to make the difficult call to his home village in Malout in the northern Indian state of Punjab to alert his parents of the tragic incident.
Mr Punia’s close friend and former roommate, Gurpreet Sidhu told SBS Punjabi that Param was a “child at heart” who was always ready to help others and never shied away from hard work.
Parampreet Punia died in a horrific crash on the South Eastern Freeway on Saturday Source: Facebook
“We got to know about his death after some common friends alerted us through Facebook. It took us a while to accept the news. He was an innocent and gentle human being,” said a devastated Mr Sidhu, who is in constant touch with Mr Punia’s family back in Punjab.
“His parents are in no condition to speak over the phone. Param was their only hope,” he added.
Meanwhile, Mr Sidhu and his group of friends have started a fundraiser on Facebook to cover the cost of Mr Punia’s funeral and to support his family of limited means.
However, the family is yet to take a decision on whether they want their son’s body to be repatriated to India or cremated here in Australia. He is survived by his parents and a younger sister, who lives with her husband in Canada.
“The decision would be made on the basis of the condition of the body, which we have been told is in really bad shape,” informed Mr Sidhu.
Mr Punia’s death takes South Australia's road death toll to 42 this year, compared to 25 at the same time last year.
