The incident was reported by the traffic police to the local control room at 12.35 am, Thane Municipal Corporation's disaster management cell chief Yasin Tadvi said
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The civic officials said that a truck driver and a helper were killed after their vehicle carrying iron rods and pipes hit a divider on a bridge and crashed into a street light pole in Maharashtra's Thane city shortly after midnight on Tuesday, reported news agency PTI.
The accident took place at the Patlipada bridge on Ghodbunder Road when the truck was on its way from Navi Mumbai to Gujarat, they said.
The incident was reported by the traffic police to the local control room at 12.35 am, Thane Municipal Corporation's disaster management cell chief Yasin Tadvi said, reported PTI.
"The driver appeared to have lost control of the truck while crossing the Patlipada bridge. The vehicle rammed into the central divider and crashed into a street light pole, causing the truck's cabin to crumple completely," he said.
Traffic police personnel, a disaster management cell team and the fire brigade rushed to the spot.
"It took us about 45 minutes to pull out both the driver and helper from the severely mangled cabin using specialised hydraulic tools," Tadvi said, reported PTI.
Both persons were immediately sent to a government hospital in Thane, where doctors declared them brought dead, he said.
The deceased have been identified as truck driver Vinod (42) and helper Rahim Pathan (25), both residents of Uttar Pradesh, the official said, reported PTI.
The accident left iron rods and pipes, weighing nearly 8 tons, scattered across the road and oil from the damaged vehicle also spilled on the route, blocking traffic in both directions, reported PTI.
Rescue teams, with the help of a hydra machine, later moved the materials to the roadside. Hose reels and water jets were used to remove the oil spill, the official said.
The clean-up operation took nearly three hours, during which traffic was diverted through the service roads, he said.
The accident-hit truck was shifted to the roadside and the debris was cleared by 3 am, and vehicular movement resumed thereafter, the official said.
Preliminary findings suggested the driver may have dozed off or lost control over the wheels due to fatigue, he said, adding a probe was on into the incident.
(With inputs from PTI)
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