Bandra-Worli sea link accident: Driver was distracted as he was plugging charger, say police

The interrogation of the Hyundai driver who crashed into four standstill vehicles on the Bandra Worli Sea Link BWSL on Tuesday night has revealed he was trying to plug in his mobile phone charger and lost sight of the road ahead police said This cost the lives of five people who along with a few civilians were helping four motorists whose Swift had hit the dividerIllustrationUday Mohite1 Around 220 am a Maruti Swift with four travellersmdashSiddharth Joil Rehan Patel Shane Fortunal and Alia Bhatin hit the divider on the BWSL towards south Mumbai after a tyre burst Two carsmdasha Baleno and a Mercedesmdashstopped to check on its occupants Among them ldquowere two doctors Dr Ankuj Tinha and Dr Shivani Nair who were helping the Swift passengersrdquo a cop said Meanwhile a guard at the CCTV monitoring room alerted the security personnel and toll guards after which a crane was sent that moved the car to the fourth lane between pole numbers 76 to 78 An ambulance also arrived Toll guards were waving traffic baton at the oncoming cars to avoid the fourth laneAlso Read Mumbai Five killed eight injured in a highspeed collision on BandraWorli sea link2 At 253 am a Hyundai Creta driven by accused Irfan changed lanes from second to the fourth where the four vehicles were and sped towards them Seeing this a guard moved a little ahead and waved the traffic wand signalling the driver to avoid the fourth lane3 However Irfan who was speeding hit the men and crashed into the Swift first and then the other vehicles During the interrogation he said he got distracted as he was trying to plug in his mobile charging cord ldquoA developer Irfan was returning home to Md Ali Road from his brotherrsquos place in Jogeshwarirdquo a cop said He along with other injured were taken to Nair hospital However from there he went to Saifee hospital for treatment of his injured hand and then took a cab home He went to sleep without telling his family about the accident Sources said Irfan couldnrsquot be traced at night due to the shortage of staff On Wednesday morning the Worli cops rushed to his place and nabbed himFamily members of ambulance driver Somnath Salve at Worli police station on Wednesday PicAshish RajelsquoThey said theyrsquoll be back in 15 minutesrsquoFive peoplemdashKadam 36 Salve 29 and toll guards Satyendra Fauzdar 27 Rajendra Rajput 40 Gajraj Rajput 40mdashwere declared dead on arrival at Nair hospital Eight others were injured in the accident They are undergoing treatment at Nair Lilavati Saifee and Global hospitals said an officer Mohan Rajput who was on night duty with the three deceased toll guards said they lived in Bandra togetherRemains of the cars and an ambulance that were hit by a speeding Hyundai late on Tuesday night on the Bandra Worli Sea Link on Wednesday The Hyundai is also at the accident site PicsShadab KhanldquoSatyendrarsquos family lives in Rajasthan while Rajendra hails from Uttar Pradesh and Gajraj from Madhya Pradeshrsquorsquo he added Gajraj is survived by his wife and two children ldquoWhen we received the alert my friends got up and said they would be back in 15 minutes We were shaking in shock and grief when we saw our friends bleeding on the roadrdquo Mohan said ldquoI am getting calls from their families as their phones are switched off I donrsquot know what to tell themrdquo Worli police said they will inform the families and ask them to claim the bodies Until then the bodies will be kept at the morgue of Nair hospitalWere SOPs followedAccording to a senior police officer the conduct of the security officials at the spot is under scanner to find out if they followed the standard operating procedures SOPldquoIn a regular practice whenever there is an accident and vehicular movement needs to be diverted security officials need to wear reflective gears carry whistles and reflecting batons Prima facie it doesnrsquot look like that the SOPs were not followedrdquo said the officer requesting anonymity ldquoAlso the diversion of vehicles should happen at least 50 metres away from the accident site The traffic safety cone with reflectors should have been placed immediatelyrdquo he added