One person was killed and eight people were injured in two separate accidents on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway yesterday morning. A truck collided with a container and the driver lost his life. The second accident occured when 10 vehicles banged each other. The second accident took place a little of the spot where the first one had occured in Borghat.
The Mumbai-Pune Expressway was halted for two hours on Thursday afternoon for the installation of an overhead gantry. The accidents took place in the Pune to Mumbai carriageway.
The first accident happened in the morning at 6.30am. The deceased driver has been identified as Amit Kumar Chaudhary. One hour later, Around 7.30 am when Highway police, IRB patrol and local residents from the rescue group Apaghatgrastanchya Madatisathi were involved in rescue operations for it, a speeding truck’s driver lost control and the vehicle slammed into the safety barrier first and came to rest in the middle of the lane.
Mid-day quoted an expressway control room attendant saying, “Drivers of vehicles coming from behind could not control them and they rammed each other, when they tried to stop them due to the truck. Trucks coming from behind also hit the cars. In this way 10 vehicles including five cars, one tempo and four trucks rammed each other.”
Eight people got minor injuries in the second accident.
The daily quoted Superintendent of police (Highway) Vijay Patil saying, “The accident took place in the Pune to Mumbai lane. By 11 am with the help of cranes the road was cleared. Later our work on the gantry started at 12 noon on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. Around 10 display boards were installed in a 94 km stretch. We completed the work within an hour.”
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