PUNE: Five people, including three women, from Mira Road in Thane district, travelling by an SUV died when the four-wheeler first hit and then jumped over a median on the Pune-Mumbai highway and crashed into a container truck travelling in the opposite corridor at 8am on Sunday at Shilatane village near Lonavla.
The accident caused a major traffic jam on the Pune-to-Mumbai corridor of the highway. It took almost an hour for the traffic authorities to restore normal vehicular movement.
Four of the victims _ Mahavir Tilok (43), Shalini Tilok (20), Seema Raj (36), Masidevi Tilok (65) were fromthe same family from Shanti Park society on Mira Road. The fifth victim, Rihan Ansari (30) of Kurla in Mumbai, was driving the car.
“The family was taking Masidevi to a hospital in Nipani along Kolhapur’s border with Karnataka for treatment of an ailment,” inspector Pravin More of the Lonavla rural police said.
Assistant inspector Sumaiya Bagwan of Highway Safety Patrol (HSP) told TOI, “The cause of the accident is being ascertained. Prima facie, the car was proceeding at break-neck speed towards Pune. After crossing Karla Phata, its driver seemed to have lost control over the wheel. The car first hit a median before jumping over it and crashing into the container truck which was moving towards Mumbai.”
Due to the impact, one of the women sitting next to the driver, was thrown out of the SUV and came under the rear wheels of the container truck. Four others in the SUV died on the spot. Container truck driver Gahininath Shekde (35) of Beed district, escaped with minor injuries.
When contacted, Shekde told TOI, “I was driving an empty container to Mumbai. The SUV which was at high speed all of sudden jumped the median in front of me and before I could react, it crashed into my vehicle. The impact was on the lower side of the container. Hence, I sustained minor injuries. Had the SUV hit my truck a little higher, my injuries would have been severe. The road towards Pune was clear and no one had come in front of the SUV.”
