Four dead, six injured in Pune-Mumbai Expressway accident

Four dead, six injured in Pune-Mumbai Expressway accident

The car and one of the trailers involved in the accident

Four people were killed and six injured on the Pune-Mumbai Expressway, in an accident involving two trailers, a tempo and a car. Traffic was affected for five hours on the lanes towards Mumbai and was also diverted to the old highway.

Also read: Four, including cop, die in Mumbai-Pune Expressway accident

The incident took place around 8.30 am near Khalapur toll naka area near Khopoli food mall in the lanes towards Mumbai on the Expressway. A case has been registered with Khopoli police station.

The deceased have been identified as Balasaheb Waman Shinde (40) from Phaltan in Satara, Sanjay Vitthal Pawar (40) from Ghansoli in Navi Mumbai, Rajendra Shankar Patankar (41) from Sawarde in Chiplun and Nandkishor Ramdan Mali (41) from Rajasthan. The six injured were rushed to MGM hospital in Panvel.

Inspector S M Shinde of Khopoli police station said about the pile up, "The incident took place around 8.30 am on the lanes towards Mumbai when the brakes of a trailer, number MH 46 RA 3475, failed and the driver lost control of it.
A tempo (MH-12 FJ6247) dashed the trailer and got entangled in it. Another trailor (RJ 14 GG1846) coming from behind dashed the tempo, into which a car (MH-46-AD-0060) then rammed. The deceased Shinde, Pawar and Patankar who were in the car died on the spot. The trailer driver Mali also died on the spot. The six others were rescued with the help of local residents. We had to stop the traffic and it took around five hours to clear the road. We diverted the traffic via Khopoli exit."

Gurunath Ramchandra Sathelkar, a local resident who is part of an accident emergency service group said, "Such accidents usually take place as on the slope drivers of such heavy vehicles, in order to save their fuel, drive on neutral gear."